Chapter 27
1 Boast not for to morrow, for you know not what the day to come may bring forth.
2 Let another praise you, and not your own mouth: a stranger, and not your own lips.
3 A stone is heavy, and sand weighty: but the anger of a fool is heavier than them both.
4 Anger has no mercy, nor fury when it breaks forth: and who can bear the violence of one provoked?
5 Open rebuke is better than hidden love.
6 Better are the wounds of a friend, than the deceitful kisses of an enemy.
7 A soul that is full shall tread upon the honeycomb: and a soul that is hungry shall take even bitter for sweet.
8 As a bird that wanders from her nest, so is a man that leaves his place.
9 Ointment and perfumes rejoice the heart: and the good counsels of a friend are sweet to the soul.
10 your own friend, and your father's friend forsake not: and go not into your brother's house in the day of your affliction. Better is a neighbour that is near, than a brother afar off.
11 Study wisdom, my son, and make my heart joyful, that you may give an answer to him that reproaches.
12 The prudent man seeing evil hides himself: little ones passing on have suffered losses.
13 Take away his garment that has been surety for a stranger: and take from him a pledge for strangers.
14 He that blesses his neighbour with a loud voice, rising in the night, shall be like to him that curses.
15 Roofs dropping through in a cold day, and a contentious woman are alike.
16 He that retains her, is as he that would hold the wind, and shall call in the oil of his right hand.
17 Iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.
18 He that keeps the fig tree, shall eat the fruit thereof: and he that is the keeper of his master, shall be glorified.
19 As the faces of them that look therein, shine in the water, so-the hearts of men are laid open to the wise.
20 Hell and destruction are never filled: so the eyes of men are never satisfied.
21 As silver is tried in the fining-pot and gold in the furnace: so a man is tried by the mouth of him that praises. The heart of the wicked seeks after evils, but the righteous heart seeks after knowledge.
22 Though you should bray a fool in the mortar, as when a pestle strikes upon sodden barley, his folly would not be taken from him.
23 Be diligent to know the countenance of your cattle, and consider your own flocks:
24 For you shall not always have power: but a crown shall be given to generation and generation.
25 The meadows are open, and the green herbs have appeared, and the hay is gathered out of the mountains.
26 Lambs are for your clothing: and kids for the price of the field.
27 Let the milk of the goats be enough for your food, and for the necessities of your house, and for maintenance for your handmaids.