Chapter 27

• 1 Boast not thyself of to morrow; 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 wrath is heavier than them both.
• 4 Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?
• 5 Open rebuke is better than secret love.
• 6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
• 7 The full soul loatheth an 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 Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so doth the sweetness of a man’s friend by hearty counsel.
• 10 Thine own friend, and thy father’s friend, forsake not; neither go into thy brother’s house in the day of thy calamity: for better is a neighbour 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 foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished.
• 13 Take his garment that is surety for a stranger, and take a pledge of him for a strange 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 Whosoever hideth her hideth the wind, and the ointment of his right hand, which bewrayeth itself.
• 17 Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.
• 18 Whoso keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof: so he that waiteth on his master shall be honoured.
• 19 As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man.
• 20 Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.
• 21 As the fining pot for silver, and the furnace for gold; so is a man to his praise.
• 22 Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, 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 to every generation?
• 25 The hay appeareth, and the tender grass sheweth itself, and herbs of the mountains are gathered.
• 26 The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are the price of the field.
• 27 And thou shalt have goats’ milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household, and for the maintenance for thy maidens.