Proverbs 27:1-16 ▼

1 Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.

2 Let another praise you, and not your own mouth— a stranger, and not your own lips.

3 A stone is heavy, and sand is weighty, but a fool’s provocation is heavier than both.

4 Wrath is cruel, anger is overwhelming, but who is able to stand before jealousy?

5 Better is open rebuke than hidden love.

6 Well meant are the wounds a friend inflicts, but profuse are the kisses of an enemy.

7 The sated appetite spurns honey, but to a ravenous appetite even the bitter is sweet.

8 Like a bird that strays from its nest is one who strays from home.

9 Perfume and incense make the heart glad, but the soul is torn by trouble.

10 Do not forsake your friend or the friend of your parent; do not go to the house of your kindred in the day of your calamity. Better is a neighbor who is nearby than kindred who are far away.

11 Be wise, my child, and make my heart glad, so that I may answer whoever reproaches me.

12 The clever see danger and hide; but the simple go on, and suffer for it.

13 Take the garment of one who has given surety for a stranger; seize the pledge given as surety for foreigners.

14 Whoever blesses a neighbor with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, will be counted as cursing.

15 A continual dripping on a rainy day and a contentious wife are alike;

16 to restrain her is to restrain the wind or to grasp oil in the right hand.