Proverbs 27

27 ¹Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring. ²Let someone else praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips. ³A stone is heavy and the sand a burden, but a fool's provocation is heavier than both. ⁴Wrath is cruel and anger is overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy? ⁵Open rebuke is better than love that stays hidden. ⁶A friend's wounds are faithful, but an enemy's kisses are deceitful. ⁷A well-fed person tramples honeycomb, but to the hungry even what is bitter tastes sweet. ⁸A man who strays from his home is like a bird that strays from its nest. ⁹Oil and incense gladden the heart, and the sweetness of a friend comes from heartfelt counsel. ¹⁰Do not forsake your friend or your father's friend, and do not go to your brother's house when disaster strikes; better a neighbor nearby than a brother far off. ¹¹Be wise, my son, and make my heart glad, so that I can answer anyone who taunts me. ¹²The prudent sees danger and takes cover, but the simple keep going and pay the price. ¹³Take the garment of one who puts up security for a stranger; hold it as collateral when he does so for a foreign woman. ¹⁴Whoever blesses his neighbor with a loud voice early in the morning, it will be taken as a curse. ¹⁵A quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping on a rainy day. ¹⁶Restraining her is like restraining the wind, or grasping oil with the right hand. ¹⁷Iron sharpens iron, and one person sharpens another. ¹⁸Whoever tends a fig tree will eat its fruit, and whoever guards his master will be honored. ¹⁹As water reflects the face, so the heart reflects the person. ²⁰The grave and Destruction are never satisfied, and a person's eyes are never satisfied. ^a a v20 Sheol is the realm of the dead; Abaddon is the place of destruction — together they picture a hunger that is never filled. ²¹The crucible is for silver and the furnace for gold, and a person is tested by the praise he receives. ²²Though you grind a fool in a mortar with a pestle, along with the grain, his foolishness will not leave him. ²³Know well the condition of your flocks, and give careful attention to your herds. ²⁴For riches do not last forever, nor does a crown endure to every generation. ²⁵When the grass is gone and the new growth appears and the mountain herbs are gathered, ²⁶the lambs will provide your clothing, and the goats will provide the price of a field; ²⁷and there will be enough goats' milk for your food, for the food of your household and to sustain your servant girls.