1Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring. 2Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips. 3A stone is heavy, and sand is weighty, but a fool’s provocation is heavier than both. 4Wrath is cruel, anger is overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy? 5Better is open rebuke than hidden love. 6Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy. 7One who is full loathes honey, but to one who is hungry everything bitter is sweet. 8Like a bird that strays from its nest is a man who strays from his home. 9Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel.a 10Do not forsake your friend and your father’s friend, and do not go to your brother’s house in the day of your calamity. Better is a neighbor who is near than a brother who is far away. 11Be wise, my son, and make my heart glad, that I may answer him who reproaches me. 12The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it. 13Take a man’s garment when he has put up security for a stranger, and hold it in pledge when he puts up security for an adulteress.b 14Whoever blesses his neighbor with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, will be counted as cursing. 15A continual dripping on a rainy day and a quarrelsome wife are alike; 16to restrain her is to restrain the wind or to graspc oil in one’s right hand. 17Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.d 18Whoever tends a fig tree will eat its fruit, and he who guards his master will be honored. 19As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man. 20Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, and never satisfied are the eyes of man. 21The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and a man is tested by his praise. 22Crush a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain, yet his folly will not depart from him. 23Know well the condition of your flocks, Footnotes: a 9 Or and so does the sweetness of a friend that comes from his earnest counsel b 13 Hebrew a foreign woman; a slight emendation yields (compare Vulgate; see also 20:16) foreigners c 16 Hebrew to meet with d 17 Hebrew sharpens the face of another ESV Text Edition® (2016). The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) is adapted from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. All rights reserved. Bible Hub |
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