Proverbs

27 Do not boast of tomorrow,

because you do not know what a day will give birth to.

2 Let a stranger praise you and not your own mouth,

an alien and not your own lips.

3* A stone is heavy, and sand is a dead weight,

but the annoyance of a fool is heavier than either.

4 Ill temper is ruthless and anger is unsparing,

but who stands his ground before jealousy?

5* Better outspoken criticism

than unspoken love.

7* A glutted appetite will trample on virgin honey;

but to a hungry appetite everything bitter is sweet.

8 Like a bird strayed from its nest,

such is a man strayed from his place.

9* Oil and perfume cheer a heart,

but it is torn up by anxiety of soul.

10 Do not leave your friend and your father’s friend,

and do not go into your brother’s house on your day of calamity;

a neighbor close by is better than a brother far away.

11 Be wise, son, and gladden my heart,

so that I may give an answer to the one who taunts me.

12 A sagacious man, seeing an evil, gets under cover;

simpletons, going ahead, pay the penalty.

14 To the one who blesses his friend with a loud voice the first thing in the morning

it counts for a curse.

15 A dribbling leak in the roof in an all-day rain

and a wrangling woman are the same sort of thing.

16** Whoever has smothered her down has smothered wind down,

and oil meets his hand.

17* Iron is polished on iron,

and a man polishes his friend’s behavior.

18 One who takes care of a fig-tree will eat its fruit,

and one who looks after his master will be honored.

19* As in water a face duplicates a face,

so does man’s heart man.

20* The realm of death and the limbo of the gone forever never get all they want,

and neither do man’s eyes.

21** Crucible for silver and furnace for gold,

and a man according to what he prides himself on.

22 If you pound up a blockhead with a pestle

among the pemmican in a mortar

his stupidity will not come off.

23* Know well how your sheep and goats are looking,

keep your mind on the flocks,

24* Because funds do not last forever

and no crown is for generation upon generation;

25 When grass is taken off and green stuff is showing

and mountain growths are brought in,

26* Sheep will be for your clothing

and he-goats will pay for land,