Chapter 27

  Boast not thyself of to-morrow, for thou knowest not what a day will bring forth.  

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  Let another praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips.  

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  A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; but a fool's vexation is heavier than them both.  

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  Fury is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before jealousy?  

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  Open rebuke is better than hidden love.  

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  Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are profuse.  

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  The full soul trampleth on a honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.  

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  As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a man that wandereth from his place.  

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  Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart; and the sweetness of one's friend is [the fruit] of hearty counsel.  

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  Thine own friend, and thy father's friend, forsake not; and go not into thy brother's house in the day of thy calamity: better is a neighbour that is near than a brother far off.  

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  Be wise, my son, and make my heart glad, that I may have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me.  

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  A prudent [man] seeth the evil, [and] hideth himself; the simple pass on, [and] are punished.  

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  Take his garment that is become surety [for] another, and hold him in pledge for a strange woman.  

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  He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, it shall be reckoned a curse to him.  

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  A continual dropping on a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike:  

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  whosoever will restrain her restraineth the wind, and his right hand encountereth oil.  

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  Iron is sharpened by iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.  

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  Whoso keepeth the fig-tree shall eat the fruit thereof; and he that guardeth his master shall be honoured.  

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  As [in] water face [answereth] to face, so the heart of man to man.  

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  Sheol and destruction are insatiable; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.  

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  The fining-pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold; so let a man be to the mouth that praiseth him.  

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  If thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his folly depart from him.  

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  Be well acquainted with the appearance of thy flocks; look well to thy herds:  

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  for wealth is not for ever; and doth the crown [endure] from generation to generation?  

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  The hay is removed, and the tender grass sheweth itself, and herbs of the mountains are gathered in.  

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  The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are the price of a field;  

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  and there is goats' milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household, and sustenance for thy maidens.  

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