Proverbs 27:1–17

Instructions and Warnings

^1aDo not boast about tomorrow,

For you ^bdo not know what a day may bring forth.

²Let a ^astranger praise you, and not your own mouth;

A foreigner, and not your own lips.

³A stone is heavy and the sand weighty,

But the provocation of an ignorant fool is heavier than both of them.

⁴Wrath is cruelty and anger is a flood,

But ^awho can stand before jealousy?

⁵Better is reproof that is ^arevealed

Than love that is hidden.

⁶Faithful are the ^awounds of a friend,

But ¹deceitful are the ^bkisses of an enemy.

⁷A satisfied soul tramples the honeycomb,

But to a hungry soul any bitter thing is sweet.

⁸Like a ^abird that wanders from her nest,

So is a man who ^bwanders from his place.

^9aOil and incense make the heart glad,

So counsel from the ¹soul is sweet to his friend.

¹⁰Do not forsake your ^afriend or ^byour father’s friend,

And do not come to your brother’s house in the day of your disaster;

Better is one who dwells near than a brother far away.

^11aBe wise, my son, and make my heart glad,

That I may ^brespond with a word to him who reproaches me.

¹²A prudent man sees evil and hides,

The simple pass on and are punished.

^13aTake his garment when he becomes a guarantor for a stranger;

And for ¹a foreign woman seize it as a pledge.

^14aHe who blesses his friend with a loud voice early in the morning,

It will be counted as a curse to him.

¹⁵A ^aconstant dripping on a day of steady rain

And a contentious woman are alike;

¹⁶He who would ¹restrain her ²restrains the wind,

And ³grasps oil with his right hand.

¹⁷Iron sharpens iron,

So one man sharpens another.