Proverbs 27

Do not boast about tomorrow

Don’t brag about tomorrow, since you don’t know what the day will bring.a ²Let someone else praise you, not your own mouth— a stranger, not your own lips.b ³A stone is heavy and sand is weighty, but the resentment caused by a fool is even heavier.

⁴Anger is cruel, and wrath is like a flood, but jealousy is even more dangerous. ⁵An open rebuke is better than hidden love!c ⁶Wounds from a sincere friend are better than many kisses from an enemy.d

⁷A person who is full refuses honey, but even bitter food tastes sweet to the hungry. ⁸A person who strays from home is like a bird that strays from its nest. ⁹The heartfelt counsel of a friend is as sweet as perfume and incense.e

¹⁰Never abandon a friend— either yours or your father’s. When disaster strikes, you won’t have to ask your brother for assistance. It’s better to go to a neighbor than to a brother who lives far away. ¹¹Be wise, my child, and make my heart glad. Then I will be able to answer my critics. ¹²A prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.

¹³Get security from someone who guarantees a stranger’s debt. Get a deposit if he does it for foreigners. ¹⁴A loud and cheerful greeting early in the morning will be taken as a curse! ¹⁵A quarrelsome wife is as annoying as constant dripping on a rainy day.f

¹⁶Stopping her complaints is like trying to stop the wind or trying to hold something with greased hands. ¹⁷As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.g ¹⁸As workers who tend a fig tree are allowed to eat the fruit, so workers who protect their employer’s interests will be rewarded.

¹⁹As a face is reflected in water, so the heart reflects the real person.h ²⁰Just as Death and Destruction are never satisfied, so human desire is never satisfied.i ²¹Fire tests the purity of silver and gold, but a person is tested by being praised.

²²You cannot separate fools from their foolishness, even though you grind them like grain with mortar and pestle. ²³Know the state of your flocks, and put your heart into caring for your herds,j ²⁴for riches don’t last forever, and the crown might not be passed to the next generation.

²⁵After the hay is harvested and the new crop appears and the mountain grasses are gathered in, ²⁶your sheep will provide wool for clothing, and your goats will provide the price of a field. ²⁷And you will have enough goats’ milk for yourself, your family, and your servant girls.