Proverbs27

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

² Let someone else praise you, and not your own mouth; an outsider, and not your own lips.

³ Stone is heavy and sand a burden, but a fool’s provocation is heavier than both.

⁴ Anger is cruel and fury overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy?

⁵ Better is open rebuke than hidden love.

⁶ Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.

⁷ One who is full loathes honey from the comb, but to the hungry even what is bitter tastes sweet.

⁸ Like a bird that flees its nest is anyone who flees from home.

⁹ Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart, and the pleasantness of a friend springs from their heartfelt advice.

¹⁰ Do not forsake your friend or a friend of your family, and do not go to your relative’s house when disaster strikes you— better a neighbor nearby than a relative far away.

¹¹ Be wise, my son, and bring joy to my heart; then I can answer anyone who treats me with contempt.

¹² The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty.

¹³ Take the garment of one who puts up security for a stranger; hold it in pledge if it is done for an outsider.

¹⁴ If anyone loudly blesses their neighbor early in the morning, it will be taken as a curse.

¹⁵ A quarrelsome wife is like the dripping of a leaky roof in a rainstorm;

¹⁶ restraining her is like restraining the wind or grasping oil with the hand.

¹⁷ As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.

¹⁸ The one who guards a fig tree will eat its fruit, and whoever protects their master will be honored.

¹⁹ As water reflects the face, so one’s life reflects the heart.

²⁰ Death and Destruction are never satisfied, and neither are human eyes.

²¹ The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but people are tested by their praise.

²² Though you grind a fool in a mortar, grinding them like grain with a pestle, you will not remove their folly from them.

²³ Be sure you know the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds;

²⁴ for riches do not endure forever, and a crown is not secure for all generations.

²⁵ When the hay is removed and new growth appears and the grass from the hills is gathered in,

²⁶ the lambs will provide you with clothing, and the goats with the price of a field.

²⁷ You will have plenty of goats’ milk to feed your family and to nourish your female servants.

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Proverbs 27

Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Proverbs 27. The full AI study guide (summary, themes, context) has its own page.

v1

We know not what a day may bring forth. This does not forbid preparing for to-morrow, but presuming upon to-morrow. We must not put off the great work of conversion, that one thing needful.

v2

There may be occasion for us to justify ourselves, but not to praise ourselves.

vv3-4

Those who have no command of their passions, sink under the load.

Key Words

notH408Hebrew

אַל: not (the qualified negation, used as a deprecative); once (Job 24:25) as a noun, nothing

boastH1984Hebrew

הָלַל: to be clear (orig. of sound, but usually of color); to shine; hence, to make ashow, to boast; and thus to be (clamorously) foolish; to rave; causatively, to celebrate; also to stultify

tomorrowH4279Hebrew

מָחָר: properly, deferred, i.e. the morrow; usually (adverbially) tomorrow; indefinitely, hereafter

forH3588Hebrew

כִּי: (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below); often largely modified by other particles annexed

notH3808Hebrew

לֹא: not (the simple or abs. negation); by implication, no; often used with other particles

knowH3045Hebrew

יָדַע: to know (properly, to ascertain by seeing); used in a great variety of senses, figuratively, literally, euphemistically and inferentially (including observation, care, recognition; and causatively, instruction, designation, punishment, etc.)

whatH4100Hebrew

מָה: properly, interrogative what? (including how? why? when?); but also exclamation, what! (including how!), or indefinitely what (including whatever, and even relatively, that which); often used with prefixes in various adverbial or conjunctive senses

dayH3117Hebrew

יוֹם: a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb)

bringH3205Hebrew

יָלַד: to bear young; causatively, to beget; medically, to act as midwife; specifically, to show lineage

anotherH2114Hebrew

זוּר: to turn aside (especially for lodging); hence to be aforeigner, strange, profane; specifically (active participle) to commit adultery

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