King James Version of the Holy Bible

Chapter 27

Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. ²Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips. ³A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; but a fool’s wrath is heavier than them both. ⁴Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy? ⁵Open rebuke is better than secret love. ⁶Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. ⁷The full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet. ⁸As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a man that wandereth from his place. ⁹Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so doth the sweetness of a man’s friend by hearty counsel. ¹⁰Thine own friend, and thy father’s friend, forsake not; neither go into thy brother’s house in the day of thy calamity: for better is a neighbour that is near than a brother far off. ¹¹My son, be wise, and make my heart glad, that I may answer him that reproacheth me. ¹²A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished. ¹³Take his garment that is surety for a stranger, and take a pledge of him for a strange woman. ¹⁴He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse to him. ¹⁵A continual dropping in a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike. ¹⁶Whosoever hideth her hideth the wind, and the ointment of his right hand, which bewrayeth itself. ¹⁷Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. ¹⁸Whoso keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof: so he that waiteth on his master shall be honoured. ¹⁹As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man. ²⁰Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied. ²¹As the fining pot for silver, and the furnace for gold; so is a man to his praise. ²²Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him. ²³Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds. ²⁴For riches are not for ever: and doth the crown endure to every generation? ²⁵The hay appeareth, and the tender grass sheweth itself, and herbs of the mountains are gathered. ²⁶The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are the price of the field. ²⁷And thou shalt have goats’ milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household, and for the maintenance for thy maidens.