Dangerous Promises

My son, if you become surety for your friend, If you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger,

So do this, my son, and deliver yourself; For you have come into the hand of your friend: Go and humble yourself; Plead with your friend.

The righteous should choose his friends carefully, For the way of the wicked leads them astray.

The poor man is hated even by his own neighbor, But the rich has many friends.

A perverse man sows strife, And a whisperer separates the best of friends.

He who covers a transgression seeks love, But he who repeats a matter separates friends.

A friend loves at all times, And a brother is born for adversity.

A man devoid of understanding shakes hands in a pledge, And becomes surety for his friend.

A man who has friends must himself be friendly, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Wealth makes many friends, But the poor is separated from his friend.

Many entreat the favor of the nobility, And every man is a friend to one who gives gifts.

All the brothers of the poor hate him; How much more do his friends go far from him! He may pursue them with words, yet they abandon him.

He who loves purity of heart And has grace on his lips, The king will be his friend.

Make no friendship with an angry man, And with a furious man do not go,

Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

Ointment and perfume delight the heart, And the sweetness of a man’s friend gives delight by hearty counsel.

Do not forsake your own friend or your father’s friend, Nor go to your brother’s house in the day of your calamity; Better is a neighbor nearby than a brother far away.

He who blesses his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, It will be counted a curse to him.

As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.