Proverbs 27

You Don't Know Tomorrow

1 Don't brashly announce what you're going to do tomorrow; you don't know the first thing about tomorrow.
2 Don't call attention to yourself; let others do that for you.
3 Carrying a log across your shoulders while you're hefting a boulder with your arms Is nothing compared to the burden of putting up with a fool.
4 We're blasted by anger and swamped by rage, but who can survive jealousy?
5 A spoken reprimand is better than approval that's never expressed.
6 The wounds from a lover are worth it; kisses from an enemy do you in.
7 When you've stuffed yourself, you refuse dessert; when you're starved, you could eat a horse.
8 People who won't settle down, wandering hither and yon, are like restless birds, flitting to and fro.
9 Just as lotions and fragrance give sensual delight, a sweet friendship refreshes the soul.
10 Don't leave your friends or your parents' friends and run home to your family when things get rough; Better a nearby friend than a distant family.
11 Become wise, dear child, and make me happy; then nothing the world throws my way will upset me.
12 A prudent person sees trouble coming and ducks; a simpleton walks in blindly and is clobbered.
13 Hold tight to collateral on any loan to a stranger; be wary of accepting what a transient has pawned.
14 If you wake your friend in the early morning by shouting "Rise and shine!" It will sound to him more like a curse than a blessing.
15-16 A nagging spouse is like the drip, drip, drip of a leaky faucet; You can't turn it off, and you can't get away from it.

Your Face Mirrors Your Heart

17 You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another.
18 If you care for your orchard, you'll enjoy its fruit; if you honor your boss, you'll be honored.
19 Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart.
20 Hell has a voracious appetite, and lust just never quits.
21 The purity of silver and gold is tested by putting them in the fire; The purity of human hearts is tested by giving them a little fame.
22 Pound on a fool all you like— you can't pound out foolishness.
23-27 Know your sheep by name; carefully attend to your flocks; (Don't take them for granted; possessions don't last forever, you know.) And then, when the crops are in and the harvest is stored in the barns, You can knit sweaters from lambs' wool, and sell your goats for a profit; There will be plenty of milk and meat to last your family through the winter.

Proverbs 27

1 Boast not thyself of tomorrow; 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 vexation is heavier than they both.

4 Wrath is cruel, and anger is overwhelming; But who is able to stand before jealousy?

5 Better is open rebuke Than love that is hidden.

6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend; But the kisses of an enemy are profuse.

7 The full soul loatheth a 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 Oil and perfume rejoice the heart; So doth the sweetness of a man’s friend that cometh of hearty counsel.

10 Thine own friend, and thy father’s friend, forsake not; And go not to thy brother’s house in the day of thy calamity: Better is a neighbor 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 seeth the evil, and hideth himself; But the simple pass on, and suffer for it.

13 Take his garment that is surety for a stranger; And hold him in pledge that is surety for a foreign 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 He that would restrain her restraineth the wind; And his right hand encountereth oil.

17 Iron sharpeneth iron; So a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.

18 Whoso keepeth the fig-tree shall eat the fruit thereof; And he that regardeth his master shall be honored.

19 As in water face answereth to face, So the heart of man to man.

20 Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied; And the eyes of man are never satisfied.

21 The refining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold; And a man is tried by his praise.

22 Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with bruised grain, 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 unto all generations?

25 The hay is carried, and the tender grass showeth itself, And the herbs of the mountains are gathered in.

26 The lambs are for thy clothing, And the goats are the price of the field;

27 And there will be goats’ milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household, And maintenance for thy maidens.