Proverbs 27:1–17

¹Do not boast about tomorrow,

for you do not know what a day may bring forth.

²Let another praise you, and not your own mouth;

a stranger, and not your own lips.

³A stone is heavy, and sand is weighty,

but a fool’s provocation is heavier than both.

⁴Wrath is cruel, anger is overwhelming;

but who can stand before jealousy?

⁵Better is open rebuke

than hidden love.

⁶Faithful are the wounds of a friend;

profuse are the kisses of an enemy.

⁷He who is sated loathes honey,

but to one who is hungry everything bitter is sweet.

⁸Like a bird that strays from its nest,

is a man who strays from his home.

⁹Oil and perfume make the heart glad,

but the soul is torn by trouble.

¹⁰Your friend, and your father’s friend, do not forsake;

and do not go to your brother’s house in the day of your calamity.

Better is a neighbor who is near

than a brother who is far away.

¹¹Be wise, my son, and make my heart glad,

that I may answer him who reproaches me.

¹²A prudent man sees danger and hides himself;

but the simple go on, and suffer for it.

¹³Take a man’s garment when he has given surety for a stranger,

and hold him in pledge when he gives surety for foreigners.

¹⁴He who blesses his neighbor with a loud voice,

rising early in the morning,

will be counted as cursing.

¹⁵A continual dripping on a rainy day

and a contentious woman are alike;

¹⁶to restrain her is to restrain the wind

or to grasp oil in his right hand.

¹⁷Iron sharpens iron,

and one man sharpens another.