Proverbs 27

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.