Proverbs 27

1Do not brag about tomorrow; you have no idea what a single day will bring. 2Let someone else praise you, not your own mouth; an outsider, not your own lips. 3Stone is heavy and sand is a load, but the aggravation a fool causes weighs more than both. 4Rage is cruel and anger overwhelming, but who can hold out against jealousy? 5An open rebuke is better than love that stays hidden. 6A friend’s wounds can be trusted, but an enemy’s kisses come in plenty. 7One who is full turns up their nose even at honey, but to the hungry anything bitter tastes sweet. 8Like a bird that wanders from its nest is anyone who wanders from home. 9Scented oil and incense delight the heart; a friend’s sincere counsel is just as sweet. 10Never walk away from your own friend or from your father’s friend; and when trouble comes, you need not run to your brother’s house. Better a neighbor close by than a brother far away. 11My son, become wise and make my heart glad, so that I have a reply for anyone who taunts me. 12The sensible see trouble coming and take cover; the naive keep going and pay for it. 13Take the garment of anyone who guarantees a stranger’s debt; hold it as security if they do it for a foreign woman. 14Whoever blesses a neighbor with a loud voice at the crack of dawn will have it counted as a curse. 15A quarrelsome wife is like the endless drip of a leaking roof on a rainy day. 16Trying to restrain her is like trying to hold back the wind or grip oil in your hand. 17As iron is sharpened against iron, so one person sharpens another. 18Those who care for a fig tree will enjoy its figs, and those who look after their master will receive honor. 19As water reflects a face, so the heart reflects the person. 20Sheol and Destruction are never full, and human eyes are never satisfied. 21The crucible tests silver and the furnace gold, and praise tests a person. 22Even if you grind fools in a mortar with a pestle along with the grain, you will not get their folly out of them.

23Know how your flocks are doing, and keep your mind on your herds, 24for riches do not last forever, and a crown does not pass down through every generation. 25When the hay is cut and the new growth shows, and the grass of the hills is brought in, 26the lambs will give you clothing, and the goats will buy a field. 27There will be goats’ milk enough for your food and your household’s food, and to keep your servant girls alive.