27 Don’t brag about tomorrow,
    since you don’t know what the day will bring.

² Let someone else praise you, not your own mouth—
    a stranger, not your own lips.

³ A stone is heavy and sand is weighty,
    but the resentment caused by a fool is even heavier.

⁴ Anger is cruel, and wrath is like a flood,
    but jealousy is even more dangerous.

⁵ An open rebuke
    is better than hidden love!

⁶ Wounds from a sincere friend
    are better than many kisses from an enemy.

⁷ A person who is full refuses honey,
    but even bitter food tastes sweet to the hungry.

⁸ A person who strays from home
    is like a bird that strays from its nest.

⁹ The heartfelt counsel of a friend
    is as sweet as perfume and incense.

¹⁰ Never abandon a friend—
    either yours or your father’s.
When disaster strikes, you won’t have to ask your brother for assistance.
    It’s better to go to a neighbor than to a brother who lives far away.

¹¹ Be wise, my child,^[a] and make my heart glad.
    Then I will be able to answer my critics.

¹² A prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions.
    The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.

¹³ Get security from someone who guarantees a stranger’s debt.
    Get a deposit if he does it for foreigners.^[b]

¹⁴ A loud and cheerful greeting early in the morning
    will be taken as a curse!

¹⁵ A quarrelsome wife is as annoying
    as constant dripping on a rainy day.
¹⁶ Stopping her complaints is like trying to stop the wind
    or trying to hold something with greased hands.

¹⁷ As iron sharpens iron,
    so a friend sharpens a friend.

¹⁸ As workers who tend a fig tree are allowed to eat the fruit,
    so workers who protect their employer’s interests will be rewarded.

¹⁹ As a face is reflected in water,
    so the heart reflects the real person.

²⁰ Just as Death and Destruction^[c] are never satisfied,
    so human desire is never satisfied.

²¹ Fire tests the purity of silver and gold,
    but a person is tested by being praised.^[d]

²² You cannot separate fools from their foolishness,
    even though you grind them like grain with mortar and pestle.

²³ Know the state of your flocks,
    and put your heart into caring for your herds,
²⁴ for riches don’t last forever,
    and the crown might not be passed to the next generation.
²⁵ After the hay is harvested and the new crop appears
    and the mountain grasses are gathered in,
²⁶ your sheep will provide wool for clothing,
    and your goats will provide the price of a field.
²⁷ And you will have enough goats’ milk for yourself,
    your family, and your servant girls.

¹ O God, pagan nations have conquered your land,
    your special possession.
They have defiled your holy Temple
    and made Jerusalem a heap of ruins.
² They have left the bodies of your servants
    as food for the birds of heaven.
The flesh of your godly ones
    has become food for the wild animals.
³ Blood has flowed like water all around Jerusalem;
    no one is left to bury the dead.
⁴ We are mocked by our neighbors,
    an object of scorn and derision to those around us.

⁵ O Lord, how long will you be angry with us? Forever?
    How long will your jealousy burn like fire?
⁶ Pour out your wrath on the nations that refuse to acknowledge you—
    on kingdoms that do not call upon your name.
⁷ For they have devoured your people Israel,^[a]
    making the land a desolate wilderness.
⁸ Do not hold us guilty for the sins of our ancestors!
    Let your compassion quickly meet our needs,
    for we are on the brink of despair.

⁹ Help us, O God of our salvation!
    Help us for the glory of your name.
Save us and forgive our sins
    for the honor of your name.
¹⁰ Why should pagan nations be allowed to scoff,
    asking, “Where is their God?”
Show us your vengeance against the nations,
    for they have spilled the blood of your servants.
¹¹ Listen to the moaning of the prisoners.
    Demonstrate your great power by saving those condemned to die.

¹² O Lord, pay back our neighbors seven times
    for the scorn they have hurled at you.
¹³ Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture,
    will thank you forever and ever,
    praising your greatness from generation to generation.