Proverbs 27

¹Do not boast about tomorrow,

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

²Let another praise you, not your own mouth;

a stranger, not your own lips.

³Stone is heavy, and sand a burden,

but a fool’s provocation is heavier than both.

⁴Anger is cruel, and wrath overwhelming,

but before jealousy who can stand?

⁵Better is an open rebuke[#Verses 5 and 6 are concerned with true friendship. “Better than” sayings often declare one thing superior to another in view of some value, e.g., 15:17, vegetables are better than meat in view of a milieu of love. In v. 5, a rebuke is better than an act of affection in view of discipline that imparts wisdom.]

than a love that remains hidden.

⁶Trustworthy are the blows of a friend,

dangerous, the kisses of an enemy.

⁷One who is full spurns honey;

but to the hungry, any bitter thing is sweet.

⁸Like a bird far from the nest

so is anyone far from home.

⁹Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart,

but by grief the soul is torn asunder.

¹⁰Do not give up your own friend and your father’s friend;

do not resort to the house of your kindred when trouble strikes.

Better a neighbor near than kin far away.

¹¹Be wise, my son, and bring joy to my heart,

so that I can answer whoever taunts me.

¹²The astute see an evil and hide;

the naive continue on and pay the penalty.

¹³Take the garment of the one who became surety for a stranger;[#Prv 20:16.]

if for a foreign woman, exact the pledge!

¹⁴Those who greet their neighbor with a loud voice in the early morning,[#One interpretation takes the proverb as humorous and the other takes it as serious: (1) an overly loud and ill-timed greeting (lit., “blessing”) invites the response of a curse rather than a “blessing” (greeting); (2) the loud voice suggests hypocrisy in the greeting.]

a curse can be laid to their charge.

¹⁵For a persistent leak on a rainy day

the match is a quarrelsome wife;

¹⁶Whoever would hide her hides a stormwind

and cannot tell north from south.

¹⁷Iron is sharpened by iron;

one person sharpens another.

¹⁸Those who tend a fig tree eat its fruit;

so those attentive to their master will be honored.

¹⁹As face mirrors face in water,

so the heart reflects the person.

²⁰Sheol and Abaddon can never be satisfied;[#Prv 30:16; Eccl 4:8.]

so the eyes of mortals can never be satisfied.

²¹The crucible for silver, the furnace for gold,

so you must assay the praise you receive.

²²Though you pound fools with a pestle,

their folly never leaves them.

²³Take good care of your flocks,[#A little treatise on farming in the form of admonitions. It proposes the advantages of field and flock over other forms of wealth. Herds are the most productive wealth, for their value does not diminish; they are a source of money, clothing, and food. The thought is conservative and traditional but the development is vivid and concrete.]

give careful attention to your herds;

²⁴For wealth does not last forever,

nor even a crown from age to age.

²⁵When the grass comes up and the new growth appears,

and the mountain greens are gathered in,

²⁶The lambs will provide you with clothing,

and the goats, the price of a field,

²⁷And there will be ample goat’s milk for your food,

food for your house, sustenance for your maidens.