Do Not Boast about Tomorrow
1Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day will bring forth. 2Let a stranger praise you, and not your own mouth; a foreigner, and not your own lips. 3A stone is heavy and sand is a weight, but provocation from the senseless is heavier than both. 4Rage is cruel and anger a flood, but who can stand before jealousy? 5Better an open reproof than love kept hidden. 6The wounds of a friend are faithful, but the kisses of an enemy are lavish. 7A full appetite tramples honeycomb, but to a hungry appetite every bitter thing is sweet. 8Like a bird that strays from its nest is a man who strays from his place. 9Oil and incense gladden the heart, and so does the sweetness of a friend who counsels from the soul. 10Do not abandon your friend or your father’s friend, and do not go to your brother’s house on the day of your disaster. Better a neighbor nearby than a brother far off. 11Be wise, my son, and gladden my heart, so that I can answer anyone who taunts me. 12The shrewd man sees trouble and hides himself; the simple walk on and pay for it. 13Take the garment of one who puts up security for a stranger, and hold it in pledge for a foreign woman. 14Whoever blesses his neighbor in a loud voice, rising early in the morning—it will be counted a curse to him. 15A constant dripping on a day of steady rain and a quarrelsome wife are alike: 16restraining her is restraining the wind, or catching oil in your right hand.
Iron Sharpens Iron
17Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens the face of another. 18Whoever tends a fig tree will eat its fruit, and whoever guards his master will be honored. 19As water gives face back to face, so one human heart gives back another. 20Sheol and Abaddon are never full, and the eyes of a man are never full. 21A crucible for silver and a furnace for gold, and a man for the praise he is given. 22Though you pound the senseless in a mortar, among the grain, with a pestle, his folly will not leave him. 23Know well the look of your flock; set your heart on your herds, 24for wealth does not last forever, nor a crown for all generations. 25When the hay is carried off and new growth appears and the herbs of the hills are gathered in, 26the lambs will be your clothing, and the goats the price of a field, 27and there will be goats’ milk enough for your food, for the food of your household and the keep of your servant girls.
