Proverbs 27:1-22

Common English Bible

27 Don’t brag about tomorrow,
    for you don’t know what a day will bring.
² Let another person praise you, and not your own mouth;
    a stranger, and not your own lips.
³ A stone is heavy and sand weighs much,
    but the nuisance of fools is heavier than both.
⁴ Wrath is cruel and anger is a flood,
    but who can withstand jealousy?
⁵ A public correction is better than hidden love.
⁶ Trustworthy are the bruises of a friend;
    excessive are the kisses of an enemy.
⁷ Someone who is full refuses honey,
    but anything bitter tastes sweet to a hungry person.
⁸ Like a bird wandering from its nest,
    so is one who wanders from home.
⁹ Oil and incense make the heart glad,
    and the sweetness of friends comes from their advice.^[a]
10 Don’t desert your friend or a friend of your family;
    don’t go to your relative’s house when disaster strikes.
    Better a neighbor nearby than a relative far away.
¹¹ Be wise, my child, and make my heart glad,
    so I can answer those who insult me.
¹² Prudent people see evil and hide;
    the simpleminded go right to it and get punished.
¹³ Take the garment of the person who secures a loan for a stranger;
    take his pledge for a foreigner.
¹⁴ Greeting a neighbor with a loud voice early in the morning
    will be viewed as a curse.
¹⁵ The constant dripping on a rainy day
    and a contentious woman are alike;
¹⁶         anyone who can control her
        can control the wind
        or pick up oil in his hand.
¹⁷ As iron sharpens iron,
    so one person sharpens a friend.
¹⁸ Those who tend a fig tree will eat its fruit,
    and those who look after their master will be honored.
¹⁹ As water reflects the face,
    so the heart reflects one person to another.
²⁰ The grave^[b] and the underworld^[c] are never satisfied;
    and people’s eyes are never satisfied.
²¹ A crucible is for silver and a furnace for gold;
    so are people in the presence of someone who praises them.
²² Even if you grind fools in a mortar,
    even grinding them along with the grain,
    their folly won’t be driven from them.