Proverbs 27
         a devotional reading for the 27th day of the current month                                                                               

¹ Do not boast about tomorrow,
                                  for you do not know what a day may bring forth.

   

² Let another praise you, and not your own mouth;
                                               someone else, and not your own lips.

³ Stone is heavy and sand a burden,
                                       but provocation by a fool is heavier than both.

           ⁴ Anger is cruel and fury overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy?

⁵ Better is open rebuke than hidden love.

⁶ Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.

⁷ He who is full loathes honey, but to the hungry even what is bitter tastes sweet.

⁸ Like a bird that strays from its nest is a man who strays from his home.

   
⁹ Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart,
                                         and the pleasantness of one's friend springs from his earnest counsel.

¹⁰ Do not forsake your friend and the friend of your father,
                       and do not go to your brother's house when disaster strikes you-
                                         better a neighbor nearby than a brother far away.

¹¹ Be wise, my son, and bring joy to my heart;
                               then I can answer anyone who treats me with contempt.

¹² The prudent see danger and take refuge,
                                            but the simple keep going and suffer for it.


¹³ Take the garment of one who puts up security for a stranger;
                            hold it in pledge if he does it for a wayward woman.

¹⁴ If a man loudly blesses his neighbor early in the morning,
                                                                       it will be taken as a curse.


^15-16  A quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping on a rainy day;
                                       restraining her is like restraining the wind . . .   
                                                                                                      . . . or grasping oil with the hand.


¹⁷ As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.


¹⁸ He who tends a fig tree will eat its fruit,
                         and he who looks after his master will be honored.

¹⁹ As water reflects a face, so a man's heart reflects the man.

²⁰ Death and Destruction¹ are never satisfied, and neither are the eyes of man.

 

²¹ The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold,
                                                  but man is tested by the praise he receives.

 

²² Though you grind a fool in a mortar,
                        grinding him like grain with a pestle,
                                            you will not remove his folly from him.

^23-24   Be sure you know the condition of your flocks,
             give careful attention to your herds;
             for riches do not endure forever,
             and a crown is not secure for all generations.


^25-27  When the hay is removed and new growth appears
                 and the grass from the hills is gathered in,
                          the lambs will provide you with clothing,
                          and the goats with the price of a field.
           You will have plenty of goats' milk to feed you and your family
                          and to nourish your servant girls.

   

Footnote:    ¹verse 27:20  Hebrew Sheol and Abaddon