Proverbs 27:1–17

Boast not thyself of to-morrow;

For thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.

²Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth;

A stranger, and not thine own lips.

³A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty;

But a fool’s vexation is heavier than they both.

⁴Wrath is cruel, and anger is overwhelming;

But who is able to stand before jealousy?

⁵Better is open rebuke

Than love that is hidden.

⁶Faithful are the wounds of a friend;

But the kisses of an enemy are profuse.

⁷The full soul loatheth a honeycomb;

But to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.

⁸As a bird that wandereth from her nest,

So is a man that wandereth from his place.

⁹Oil and perfume rejoice the heart;

So doth the sweetness of a man’s friend that cometh of hearty counsel.

¹⁰Thine own friend, and thy father’s friend, forsake not;

And go not to thy brother’s house in the day of thy calamity:

Better is a neighbor that is near than a brother far off.

¹¹My son, be wise, and make my heart glad,

That I may answer him that reproacheth me.

¹²A prudent man seeth the evil, and hideth himself;

But the simple pass on, and suffer for it.

¹³Take his garment that is surety for a stranger;

And hold him in pledge that is surety for a foreign woman.

¹⁴He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning,

It shall be counted a curse to him.

¹⁵A continual dropping in a very rainy day

And a contentious woman are alike:

¹⁶He that would restrain her restraineth the wind;

And his right hand encountereth oil.

¹⁷Iron sharpeneth iron;

So a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.