1Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.
2Let a stranger praise you, and not your own mouth; a foreigner, and not your own lips.
3A stone is heavy and the sand a burden, but a fool’s provocation is heavier than both of them.
4Wrath is cruel, and anger a flood, but who can stand before jealousy?
5Better is open rebuke than concealed love.
6Faithful are the wounds of one who loves, but abundant are the kisses of one who hates.
7A sated throat tramples on honeycomb, but to a hungry throat every bitter thing is sweet.
8Like a bird wandering from its nest, so is a man wandering from his place.
9Oil and incense gladden the heart, and the sweetness of one’s friend comes from hearty counsel.
10Do not forsake your friend or your father’s friend, and do not enter your brother’s house in the day of your calamity. Better is a neighbor nearby than a brother far off.
11Be wise, my son, and gladden my heart, that I may answer the one who taunts me.
12The shrewd sees evil and hides himself, but the naive pass on and are punished.
13Take his garment, for he has stood surety for a stranger; and for a foreign woman hold him in pledge.
14One who blesses his neighbor with a loud voice, rising early in the morning — it will be counted to him as a curse.
15A continual dripping on a day of steady rain and a contentious woman are alike.
16Whoever restrains her restrains the wind, and grasps oil with his right hand.
17Iron sharpens iron, and a man sharpens the face of his friend.
18Whoever keeps a fig tree will eat its fruit, and whoever guards his master will be honored.
19As water reflects face to face, so the heart of a person reflects the person.
20Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, and the eyes of a person are never satisfied.
21The crucible is for silver and the furnace for gold, and a person is tested by his praise.
22Though you pound the fool in a mortar with a pestle among the grain, his folly will not depart from him.
23Know well the face of your flock; set your heart on the herds.
24For riches are not forever, nor does a crown endure for all generations.
25When the grass is gone and new growth appears, and the herbs of the mountains are gathered,
26the lambs will provide your clothing, and the goats the price of a field.
27and there will be enough goats’ milk for your food, for the food of your household, and sustenance for your servant girls.
Open in the interactive reader →