Proverbs 27

Don’t brashly announce what you’re going to do tomorrow;
    you don’t know the first thing about tomorrow.

Don’t brag about tomorrow,
    since you don’t know what the day will bring.

Don’t call attention to yourself;
    let others do that for you.

Let someone else praise you, not your own mouth—
    a stranger, not your own lips.

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.

A stone is heavy and sand is weighty,
    but the resentment caused by a fool is even heavier.

We’re blasted by anger and swamped by rage,
    but who can survive jealousy?

Anger is cruel, and wrath is like a flood,
    but jealousy is even more dangerous.

A spoken reprimand is better
    than approval that’s never expressed.

An open rebuke
    is better than hidden love!

The wounds from a lover are worth it;
    kisses from an enemy do you in.

Wounds from a sincere friend
    are better than many kisses from an enemy.

When you’ve stuffed yourself, you refuse dessert;
    when you’re starved, you could eat a horse.

A person who is full refuses honey,
    but even bitter food tastes sweet to the hungry.

People who won’t settle down, wandering hither and yon,
    are like restless birds, flitting to and fro.

A person who strays from home
    is like a bird that strays from its nest.

Just as lotions and fragrance give sensual delight,
    a sweet friendship refreshes the soul.

The heartfelt counsel of a friend
    is as sweet as perfume and incense.

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.

Never abandon a friend—
    either yours or your father’s.
When disaster strikes, you won’t have to ask your brother for assistance.
    It’s better to go to a neighbor than to a brother who lives far away.

Become wise, dear child, and make me happy;
    then nothing the world throws my way will upset me.

Be wise, my child,^[a] and make my heart glad.
    Then I will be able to answer my critics.

A prudent person sees trouble coming and ducks;
    a simpleton walks in blindly and is clobbered.

A prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions.
    The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.

Hold tight to collateral on any loan to a stranger;
    be wary of accepting what a transient has pawned.

Get security from someone who guarantees a stranger’s debt.
    Get a deposit if he does it for foreigners.^[b]

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.

A loud and cheerful greeting early in the morning
    will be taken as a curse!

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.

A quarrelsome wife is as annoying
    as constant dripping on a rainy day.

Stopping her complaints is like trying to stop the wind
    or trying to hold something with greased hands.

You use steel to sharpen steel,
    and one friend sharpens another.

As iron sharpens iron,
    so a friend sharpens a friend.

If you care for your orchard, you’ll enjoy its fruit;
if you honor your boss, you’ll be honored.

As workers who tend a fig tree are allowed to eat the fruit,
    so workers who protect their employer’s interests will be rewarded.

Just as water mirrors your face,
so your face mirrors your heart.

As a face is reflected in water,
    so the heart reflects the real person.

Hell has a voracious appetite,
and lust just never quits.

Just as Death and Destruction^[c] are never satisfied,
    so human desire is never satisfied.

    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.

Fire tests the purity of silver and gold,
    but a person is tested by being praised.^[d]

Pound on a fool all you like—
you can’t pound out foolishness.

You cannot separate fools from their foolishness,
    even though you grind them like grain with mortar and pestle.

    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.