Proverbs 27
27
You Don’t Know Tomorrow
1Don’t brashly announce what you’re going to do tomorrow;
you don’t know the first thing about tomorrow.
2Don’t call attention to yourself;
let others do that for you.
3Carrying a log across your shoulders
while you’re hefting a boulder with your arms
Is nothing compared to the burden
of putting up with a fool.
4We’re blasted by anger and swamped by rage,
but who can survive jealousy?
5A spoken reprimand is better
than approval that’s never expressed.
6The wounds from a lover are worth it;
kisses from an enemy do you in.
7When you’ve stuffed yourself, you refuse dessert;
when you’re starved, you could eat a horse.
8People who won’t settle down, wandering hither and yon,
are like restless birds, flitting to and fro.
9Just as lotions and fragrance give sensual delight,
a sweet friendship refreshes the soul.
10Don’t leave your friends or your parents’ friends
and run home to your family when things get rough;
Better a nearby friend
than a distant family.
11Become wise, dear child, and make me happy;
then nothing the world throws my way will upset me.
12A prudent person sees trouble coming and ducks;
a simpleton walks in blindly and is clobbered.
13Hold tight to collateral on any loan to a stranger;
be wary of accepting what a transient has pawned.
14If you wake your friend in the early morning
by shouting “Rise and shine!”
It will sound to him
more like a curse than a blessing.
15-16A nagging spouse is like
the drip, drip, drip of a leaky faucet;
You can’t turn it off,
and you can’t get away from it.
Your Face Mirrors Your Heart
17You use steel to sharpen steel,
and one friend sharpens another.
18If you care for your orchard, you’ll enjoy its fruit;
if you honor your boss, you’ll be honored.
19Just as water mirrors your face,
so your face mirrors your heart.
20Hell has a voracious appetite,
and lust just never quits.
21The purity of silver and gold is tested
by putting them in the fire;
The purity of human hearts is tested
by giving them a little fame.
22Pound on a fool all you like—
you can’t pound out foolishness.
23-27Know your sheep by name;
carefully attend to your flocks;
(Don’t take them for granted;
possessions don’t last forever, you know.)
And then, when the crops are in
and the harvest is stored in the barns,
You can knit sweaters from lambs’ wool,
and sell your goats for a profit;
There will be plenty of milk and meat
to last your family through the winter.
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Proverbs 27
27
1Don’t boast about tomorrow,
for you don’t know what a day might bring.#Lk 12:19–20; Jms 4:13–14
2Let another praise you, and not your own mouth —
a stranger, and not your own lips.#Pr 25:27; 2Co 10:12,18; 12:11
3A stone is heavy, and sand a burden,
but aggravation from a fool outweighs them both.
4Fury is cruel, and anger a flood,
but who can withstand jealousy?#Pr 6:34
5Better an open reprimand
than concealed love.#Pr 28:23
6The wounds of a friend are trustworthy,#Ps 141:5
but the kisses of an enemy are excessive.#Lk 22:48
7A person who is full tramples on a honeycomb,#Pr 25:16
but to a hungry person, any bitter thing is sweet.
8Anyone wandering from his home
is like a bird wandering from its nest.#Pr 26:2
9Oil#Ps 23:5 and incense bring joy to the heart,
and the sweetness of a friend is better than self-counsel.#27:9 LXX reads heart, but the soul is torn up by affliction
10Don’t abandon your friend or your father’s friend,#2Sm 10:2
and don’t go to your brother’s house
in your time of calamity;
better a neighbor nearby than a brother far away.#Pr 17:17
11Be wise, my son, and bring my heart joy,#Pr 10:1; 23:24–25; 29:3
so that I can answer anyone who taunts me.#Ps 119:42; 127:5
12A sensible person sees danger and takes cover;
the inexperienced keep going and are punished.#Pr 22:3
13Take his garment,
for he has put up security for a stranger;
get collateral if it is for foreigners.#27:13 Lit a foreign woman#Pr 6:1–5; 11:15; 20:16
14If one blesses his neighbor
with a loud voice early in the morning,
it will be counted as a curse to him.
15An endless dripping on a rainy day
and a nagging wife are alike;#Pr 19:13
16the one who controls her controls the wind
and grasps oil with his right hand.
17Iron sharpens iron,
and one person sharpens another.#27:17 Lit and a man sharpens his friend’s face
18Whoever tends a fig tree#Am 7:14 will eat its fruit,#Sg 8:12; 1Co 3:8; 9:7; 2Tm 2:6
and whoever looks after his master will be honored.
19As water reflects the face,
so the heart reflects the person.
20Sheol and Abaddon#Jb 26:6; Pr 15:11 are never satisfied,#Pr 30:15–16; Hab 2:5
and people’s eyes are never satisfied.#Ec 1:8; 4:8
21As a crucible refines silver,
and a smelter refines gold,
so a person should refine his praise.#Pr 16:2; 17:3
22Though you grind a fool
in a mortar with a pestle along with grain,
you will not separate his foolishness from him.#Pr 23:35; 26:11; Jr 5:3
23Know well the condition of your flock,#Ezk 34:12; Jn 10:3,14; Ac 20:28
and pay attention to your herds,
24for wealth is not forever;#Lk 16:9
not even a crown lasts for all time.
25When hay is removed and new growth appears
and the grain from the hills is gathered in,
26lambs will provide your clothing,
and goats, the price of a field;
27there will be enough goat’s milk for your food —
food for your household
and nourishment for your female servants.#Pr 31:15
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