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Proverbs 27
Sayings here cluster around friendship tested under pressure: a friend's wounds beat an enemy's kisses (v.6), iron sharpens iron (v.17), and a near neighbor outranks a distant brother on the day of disaster (v.10). Praise should come from another's mouth, never your own (v.2). Watch the closing shift from one-line maxims into a sustained call to know your flocks and herds (v.23-27), since riches and crowns do not last forever.
- 1
Don’t boast about tomorrow; for you don’t know what a day may bring.
- 2
Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips.
- 3
A stone is heavy, and sand is a burden; but a fool’s provocation is heavier than both.
- 4
Wrath is cruel, and anger is overwhelming; but who is able to stand before jealousy?
- 5
Better is open rebuke than hidden love.
- 6
The wounds of a friend are faithful, although the kisses of an enemy are profuse.
- 7
A full soul loathes a honeycomb; but to a hungry soul, every bitter thing is sweet.
- 8
As a bird that wanders from her nest, so is a man who wanders from his home.
- 9
Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart; so does earnest counsel from a man’s friend.
- 10
Don’t forsake your friend and your father’s friend. Don’t go to your brother’s house in the day of your disaster. A neighbor who is near is better than a distant brother.
- 11
Be wise, my son, and bring joy to my heart, then I can answer my tormentor.
- 12
A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge; but the simple pass on, and suffer for it.
- 13
Take his garment when he puts up collateral for a stranger. Hold it for a wayward woman!
- 14
He who blesses his neighbor with a loud voice early in the morning, it will be taken as a curse by him.
- 15
A continual dropping on a rainy day and a contentious wife are alike:
- 16
restraining her is like restraining the wind, or like grasping oil in his right hand.
- 17
Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens his friend’s countenance.
- 18
Whoever tends the fig tree shall eat its fruit. He who looks after his master shall be honored.
- 19
Like water reflects a face, so a man’s heart reflects the man.
- 20
Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied; and a man’s eyes are never satisfied.
- 21
The crucible is for silver, and the furnace for gold; but man is refined by his praise.
- 22
Though you grind a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with grain, yet his foolishness will not be removed from him.
- 23
Know well the state of your flocks, and pay attention to your herds,
- 24
for riches are not forever, nor does the crown endure to all generations.
- 25
The hay is removed, and the new growth appears, the grasses of the hills are gathered in.
- 26
The lambs are for your clothing, and the goats are the price of a field.
- 27
There will be plenty of goats’ milk for your food, for your family’s food, and for the nourishment of your servant girls.
From proverb pairs to a herdsman's economy
Most of the chapter trades in two-line contrasts, but the final five verses break the pattern into a small essay on husbandry: hay removed, new growth appearing, lambs for clothing and goats sold for a field. The point is that visible wealth, unlike attentive care, can vanish, while a well-tended flock keeps feeding the household and even the servant girls.
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