Proverbs 27
27
1Don’t brag about tomorrow;
you don’t know what may happen then.
2Don’t praise yourself. Let someone else do it.
Let the praise come from a stranger and not from your own mouth.
3Stone is heavy, and sand is weighty,
but a complaining fool is worse than either.
4Anger is cruel and destroys like a flood,
but no one can put up with jealousy!
5It is better to correct someone openly
than to have love and not show it.
6The slap of a friend can be trusted to help you,
but the kisses of an enemy are nothing but lies.
7When you are full, not even honey tastes good,
but when you are hungry, even something bitter tastes sweet.
8A person who leaves his home
is like a bird that leaves its nest.
9The sweet smell of perfume and oils is pleasant,
and so is good advice from a friend.
10Don’t forget your friend or your parent’s friend.
Don’t always go to your family for help when trouble comes.
A neighbor close by is better than a family far away.
11Be wise, my child, and make me happy.
Then I can respond to any insult.
12The wise see danger ahead and avoid it,
but fools keep going and get into trouble.
13Take the coat of someone who promises to pay a stranger’s loan,
and keep it until he pays what the stranger owes.
14If you loudly greet your neighbor early in the morning,
he will think of it as a curse.
15A quarreling wife is as bothersome
as a continual dripping on a rainy day.
16Stopping her is like stopping the wind
or trying to grab oil in your hand.
17As iron sharpens iron,
so people can improve each other.
18Whoever tends a fig tree gets to eat its fruit,
and whoever takes care of his master will receive honor.
19As water reflects your face,
so your mind shows what kind of person you are.
20People will never stop dying and being destroyed,
and they will never stop wanting more than they have.
21A hot furnace tests silver and gold,
and people are tested by the praise they receive.
22Even if you ground up a foolish person like grain in a bowl,
you couldn’t remove the foolishness.
23Be sure you know how your sheep are doing,
and pay attention to the condition of your cattle.
24Riches will not go on forever,
nor do governments go on forever.
25Bring in the hay, and let the new grass appear.
Gather the grass from the hills.
26Make clothes from the lambs’ wool,
and sell some goats to buy a field.
27There will be plenty of goat’s milk
to feed you and your family
and to make your servant girls healthy.
Currently Selected:
Proverbs 27: NCV
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Proverbs 27
27
1Do not boast about tomorrow,
for you do not know what any day may bring forth.
2Let another praise you, not your own mouth;
a stranger, not your own lips.
3Stone is heavy, and sand a burden,
but a fool’s provocation is heavier than both.#Sir 22:14–15.
4Anger is cruel, and wrath overwhelming,
but before jealousy who can stand?#Anger generally subsides with time but jealousy coolly calculates and plots revenge.
5#Verses 5 and 6 are concerned with true friendship. “Better than” sayings often declare one thing superior to another in view of some value, e.g., 15:17, vegetables are better than meat in view of a milieu of love. In v. 5, a rebuke is better than an act of affection in view of discipline that imparts wisdom. Better is an open rebuke
than a love that remains hidden.
6Trustworthy are the blows of a friend,
dangerous, the kisses of an enemy.#The present translation is conjectural. The meaning seems to be that a friend’s rebuke can be life-giving and an enemy’s kiss can be deadly (like the kiss of Judas in Mt 26:48).
7One who is full spurns honey;
but to the hungry, any bitter thing is sweet.
8Like a bird far from the nest
so is anyone far from home.#The bird symbolizes vulnerability as it flees before danger as in Is 10:14; 16:2; and Ps 11:1. For the importance of place in human life, see Jb 20:8–9. People are defined by their place, but, tragically, war, poverty, or illness can force them from it.
9Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart,
but by grief the soul is torn asunder.
10Do not give up your own friend and your father’s friend;
do not resort to the house of your kindred when trouble strikes.
Better a neighbor near than kin far away.#The adage is about the difference between friends and kin in a crisis. Two admonitions are grounded in one maxim (colon C). The same Hebrew word means both “one who is near” and “friend.” The whole proverb urges the reader to cultivate old family friends and neighbors and not to rely exclusively on kin in times of trouble, for kin may not be there for us.
11Be wise, my son, and bring joy to my heart,
so that I can answer whoever taunts me.#A father’s command to a son to be wise, another way of saying that sons or daughters bring joy or shame to their parents.
12The astute see an evil and hide;
the naive continue on and pay the penalty.#Prv 22:3.
13Take the garment of the one who became surety for a stranger;#Prv 20:16.
if for a foreign woman, exact the pledge!#See note on 20:16.
14Those who greet their neighbor with a loud voice#One interpretation takes the proverb as humorous and the other takes it as serious: (1) an overly loud and ill-timed greeting (lit., “blessing”) invites the response of a curse rather than a “blessing” (greeting); (2) the loud voice suggests hypocrisy in the greeting. in the early morning,
a curse can be laid to their charge.
15For a persistent leak on a rainy day
the match is a quarrelsome wife;#Prv 21:9; 25:24.
16Whoever would hide her hides a stormwind
and cannot tell north from south.
17Iron is sharpened by iron;
one person sharpens another.#Iron sharpens the “face” (panim = surface, edge) of iron, and a human being sharpens the “face” (panim = face, words) of another. Human beings learn from each other and grow in wisdom by conversing.
18Those who tend a fig tree eat its fruit;
so those attentive to their master will be honored.
19As face mirrors face in water,
so the heart reflects the person.
20Sheol and Abaddon can never be satisfied;#Prv 30:16; Eccl 4:8.
so the eyes of mortals can never be satisfied.#Sheol, the underworld abode of the dead, is personified as a force that is never satisfied and always desires more. Cf. Is 5:14 and Hos 13:14. The saying is applicable to modern consumerism.
21The crucible for silver, the furnace for gold,
so you must assay the praise you receive.
22Though you pound fools with a pestle,
their folly never leaves them.
23#A little treatise on farming in the form of admonitions. It proposes the advantages of field and flock over other forms of wealth. Herds are the most productive wealth, for their value does not diminish; they are a source of money, clothing, and food. The thought is conservative and traditional but the development is vivid and concrete. Take good care of your flocks,
give careful attention to your herds;
24For wealth does not last forever,
nor even a crown from age to age.
25When the grass comes up and the new growth appears,
and the mountain greens are gathered in,
26The lambs will provide you with clothing,
and the goats, the price of a field,
27And there will be ample goat’s milk for your food,
food for your house, sustenance for your maidens.
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc