Châm Ngôn 27

¹Do not brag about tomorrow; \q you have no idea what a single day will bring. ²Let someone else praise you, not your own mouth; \q an outsider, not your own lips. ³Stone is heavy and sand is a load, \q but the aggravation a fool causes weighs more than both. ⁴Rage is cruel and anger overwhelming, \q but who can hold out against jealousy? ⁵An open rebuke is better \q than love that stays hidden. ⁶A friend’s wounds can be trusted, \q but an enemy’s kisses come in plenty. ⁷One who is full turns up their nose even at honey, \q but to the hungry anything bitter tastes sweet. ⁸Like a bird that wanders from its nest \q is anyone who wanders from home. ⁹Scented oil and incense delight the heart; \q a friend’s sincere counsel is just as sweet.^{a 10}Never walk away from your own friend or from your father’s friend; \q and when trouble comes, \q you need not run to your brother’s house. \q Better a neighbor close by than a brother far away. ¹¹My son, become wise and make my heart glad, \q so that I have a reply for anyone who taunts me. ¹²The sensible see trouble coming and take cover; \q the naive keep going and pay for it. ¹³Take the garment of anyone who guarantees a stranger’s debt; \q hold it as security if they do it for a foreign woman. ¹⁴Whoever blesses a neighbor with a loud voice at the crack of dawn \q will have it counted as a curse. ¹⁵A quarrelsome wife \q is like the endless drip of a leaking roof on a rainy day. ¹⁶Trying to restrain her is like trying to hold back the wind \q or grip oil in your hand.^{b 17}As iron is sharpened against iron, \q so one person sharpens another. ¹⁸Those who care for a fig tree will enjoy its figs, \q and those who look after their master will receive honor. ¹⁹As water reflects a face, \q so the heart reflects the person.^{c 20}Sheol and Destruction are never full, \q and human eyes are never satisfied. ²¹The crucible tests silver and the furnace gold, \q and praise tests a person. ²²Even if you grind fools in a mortar with a pestle along with the grain, \q you will not get their folly out of them.

Look after your flocks

²³Know how your flocks are doing, \q and keep your mind on your herds, ²⁴for riches do not last forever, \q and a crown does not pass down through every generation. ²⁵When the hay is cut and the new growth shows, \q and the grass of the hills is brought in, ²⁶the lambs will give you clothing, \q and the goats will buy a field. ²⁷There will be goats’ milk enough for your food \q and your household’s food, \q and to keep your servant girls alive.