Proverbs 27
The full text of Proverbs 27 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Hebrew. Free to read.
1 Do not boast about tomorrow,
for you do not know what a day may bring.
2 Let another praise you, and not your own mouth;
a stranger, and not your own lips.
3 A stone is heavy, sand is weighty,
but a fool's provocation is heavier than both.
4 Wrath is cruel, anger is overwhelming,
but who can stand before jealousy?
5 Better is open rebuke
than hidden love.
6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend;
profuse are the kisses of an enemy.
7 One who is full loathes honey,
but to one who is hungry, even what is bitter is sweet.
8 Like a bird that strays from its nest
is a person who strays from their home.
9 Oil and incense gladden the heart,
and the sweetness of a friend's counsel is hearty.
10 Do not forsake your friend and your father's friend,
and do not go to your brother's house in a day of your calamity;
better is a neighbor nearby than a brother far away.
11 Be wise, my son, and gladden my heart,
that I may answer him who reproaches me.
12 The prudent sees danger and hides himself,
but the simple keep going and suffer for it.
13 Take a man's garment when he has put up security for a stranger,
and hold it in pledge when he puts up security for a foreign woman.
14 Whoever blesses his neighbor with a loud voice,
rising early in the morning,
it will be counted as a curse to him.
15 A continual dripping on a rainy day
and a quarrelsome wife are alike;
16 to restrain her is to restrain the wind,
and his right hand grasps oil.
17 Iron sharpens iron,
and one person sharpens another.
18 Whoever tends a fig tree will eat its fruit,
and whoever cares for his master will be honored.
19 As water reflects a face back to its face,
so one person's heart reflects to another.
20 Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied,
and human eyes are never satisfied.
21 The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold,
and a man is tested by his praise.
22 Crush a fool in a mortar with a pestle
along with crushed grain,
yet his folly will not depart from him.
23 Know well the condition of your flocks,
and give attention to your herds,
24 for riches do not last forever,
and does a crown endure to all generations?
25 When the grass is gone and new growth appears
and the vegetation of the mountains is gathered,
26 the lambs will provide your clothing,
and the goats the price of a field,
27 and there will be enough goats' milk for your food,
for the food of your household,
and maintenance for your servant girls.
Translation notes (7)
- Proverbs 27:6a Hebrew na'tarot, rendered here as 'profuse', occurs only in this verse; it is usually derived from a root meaning 'to be abundant', though the King James tradition understood it as 'deceitful'. It stands in pointed contrast to ne'emanim, 'faithful': a friend's wounds can be trusted, while an enemy's kisses, however lavish, cannot.
- Proverbs 27:9a The second line is obscure in Hebrew, reading literally 'and the sweetness of his friend from counsel of soul'; 'hearty' reflects nefesh, 'soul', taken as marking counsel that comes from the inner self. The Septuagint diverges entirely, reading 'but the soul is broken by misfortunes', which suggests the difficulty is ancient.
- Proverbs 27:10a In ancient Israel friendship, like covenant, could pass between generations, so a father's friend was an inherited ally not to be abandoned. Against a society built on kinship obligation, the claim that a shakhen qarov, 'a nearby neighbor' (שָׁכֵן קָרוֹב), surpasses a distant brother is deliberately pointed: in the day of calamity, proximity delivers help that blood ties at a distance cannot.
- Proverbs 27:13a This proverb repeats Proverbs 20:16 almost verbatim; the Masoretic Text here reads nokriyyah (נָכְרִיָּה), 'foreign woman', where the written text of 20:16 has the plural 'strangers'. The counsel presupposes the pledge customs of Exodus 22:26-27 and Deuteronomy 24:10-13, in which a garment served as standard collateral, and urges strict security from anyone who guarantees an outsider's debt.
- Proverbs 27:16a The Hebrew of the second line is famously obscure, reading literally 'oil his right hand meets' (or 'calls'), since the verb qara can mean either 'encounter' or 'call'. The rendering takes the image as one of futility: like tsaphan ruach, 'hiding the wind', trying to grip oil is a hopeless task, so the quarrelsome wife of the previous verse cannot be restrained.
- Proverbs 27:19a The Hebrew is elliptical, lacking any verb: kammayim happanim lappanim, literally 'as the water, the face to the face', with the second line equally compressed. Interpreters divide over whether the heart reveals a person to himself, as in a mirror, or answers to another person's heart. This translation supplies 'reflects' and takes the second view, reading the proverb as relational rather than introspective.
- Proverbs 27:20a Sheol, the realm of the dead, is paired with avaddon (אֲבַדּוֹן), 'destruction' or 'place of ruin', a pairing found also in Proverbs 15:11 and Job 26:6. The proverb makes the insatiable underworld, which never refuses another dead, an image for human desire, which is likewise never filled.
About this translation
The Trinity Bible Version (TBV) is Trinity Bible's own modern English translation, worked directly from the original Hebrew and honest to the earliest manuscripts. It was completed in 2026 — the most modern English Bible translation — and is exclusive to Trinity Bible. Every chapter, including all of Proverbs, is free to read here on the web.
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