< Proverbs 27 >
1 Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.
2 Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips.
3 A stone [is] heavy, and the sand weighty; but a fool’s wrath [is] heavier than them both.
4 Wrath [is] cruel, and anger [is] outrageous; but who [is] able to stand before envy?
5 Open rebuke [is] better than secret love.
6 Faithful [are] the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy [are] deceitful.
7 The full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.
8 As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so [is] a man that wandereth from his place.
9 Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so [doth] the sweetness of a man’s friend by hearty counsel.
10 Thine own friend, and thy father’s friend, forsake not; neither go into thy brother’s house in the day of thy calamity: [for] better [is] a neighbour [that is] near than a brother far off.
11 My son, be wise, and make my heart glad, that I may answer him that reproacheth me.
12 A prudent [man] foreseeth the evil, [and] hideth himself; [but] the simple pass on, [and] are punished.
13 Take his garment that is surety for a stranger, and take a pledge of him for a strange woman.
14 He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse to him.
15 A continual dropping in a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike.
16 Whosoever hideth her hideth the wind, and the ointment of his right hand, [which] bewrayeth [itself].
17 Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.
18 Whoso keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof: so he that waiteth on his master shall be honoured.
19 As in water face [answereth] to face, so the heart of man to man.
20 Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied. (Sheol )
21 [As] the fining pot for silver, and the furnace for gold; so [is] a man to his praise.
22 Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, [yet] will not his foolishness depart from him.
23 Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, [and] look well to thy herds.
24 For riches [are] not for ever: and doth the crown [endure] to every generation?
25 The hay appeareth, and the tender grass sheweth itself, and herbs of the mountains are gathered.
26 The lambs [are] for thy clothing, and the goats [are] the price of the field.
27 And [thou shalt have] goats’ milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household, and [for] the maintenance for thy maidens.
