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

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

³ Stone is heavy and sand a burden,
    but a fool’s provocation 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 One who is full loathes honey from the comb,
    but to the hungry even what is bitter tastes sweet.

⁸ Like a bird that flees its nest
    is anyone who flees from home.

⁹ Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart,
    and the pleasantness of a friend
    springs from their heartfelt advice.

¹⁰ Do not forsake your friend or a friend of your family,
    and do not go to your relative’s house when disaster strikes you—
    better a neighbor nearby than a relative 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 pay the penalty.

¹³ Take the garment of one who puts up security for a stranger;
    hold it in pledge if it is done for an outsider.

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

¹⁵ A quarrelsome wife is like the dripping
    of a leaky roof in a rainstorm;
¹⁶ restraining her is like restraining the wind
    or grasping oil with the hand.

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

¹⁸ The one who guards a fig tree will eat its fruit,
    and whoever protects their master will be honored.

¹⁹ As water reflects the face,
    so one’s life reflects the heart.^[a]

²⁰ Death and Destruction^[b] are never satisfied,
    and neither are human eyes.

²¹ The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold,
    but people are tested by their praise.

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

²³ Be sure you know the condition of your flocks,
    give careful attention to your herds;
²⁴ for riches do not endure forever,
    and a crown is not secure for all generations.
²⁵ When the hay is removed and new growth appears
    and the grass from the hills is gathered in,
²⁶ the lambs will provide you with clothing,
    and the goats with the price of a field.
²⁷ You will have plenty of goats’ milk to feed your family
    and to nourish your female servants.