Proverbs 27
1Don’t boast about tomorrow; for you don’t know what a day may bring. 2Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips. 3A stone is heavy, and sand is a burden; but a fool’s provocation is heavier than both. 4Wrath is cruel, and anger is overwhelming; but who is able to stand before jealousy? 5Better is open rebuke than hidden love. 6The wounds of a friend are faithful, although the kisses of an enemy are profuse. 7A full soul loathes a honeycomb; but to a hungry soul, every bitter thing is sweet. 8As a bird that wanders from her nest, so is a man who wanders from his home. 9Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart; so does earnest counsel from a man’s friend. 10Don’t forsake your friend and your father’s friend. Don’t go to your brother’s house in the day of your disaster. A neighbor who is near is better than a distant brother. 11Be wise, my son, and bring joy to my heart, then I can answer my tormentor. 12A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge; but the simple pass on, and suffer for it. 13Take his garment when he puts up collateral for a stranger. Hold it for a wayward woman! 14He who blesses his neighbor with a loud voice early in the morning, it will be taken as a curse by him. 15A continual dropping on a rainy day and a contentious wife are alike: 16restraining her is like restraining the wind, or like grasping oil in his right hand. 17Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens his friend’s countenance. 18Whoever tends the fig tree shall eat its fruit. He who looks after his master shall be honored. 19Like water reflects a face, so a man’s heart reflects the man. 20Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied; and a man’s eyes are never satisfied. 21The crucible is for silver, and the furnace for gold; but man is refined by his praise. 22Though you grind a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with grain, yet his foolishness will not be removed from him. 23Know well the state of your flocks, and pay attention to your herds, 24for riches are not forever, nor does the crown endure to all generations. 25The hay is removed, and the new growth appears, the grasses of the hills are gathered in. 26The lambs are for your clothing, and the goats are the price of a field. 27There will be plenty of goats’ milk for your food, for your family’s food, and for the nourishment of your servant girls.
Introduction
Proverbs 27
Here is, 1. A good caution against presuming upon time to come: Boast not thyself, no, not of tomorrow, much less of many days or years to come. This does not forbid preparing for tomorrow, but presuming upon tomorrow. We must not promise ourselves the continuance of our lives and comforts till tomorrow, but speak of it with submission to the will of God and as those who with good reason are kept at uncertainty about it. We must not take thought for the morrow (Mat 6:34), but we must cast our care concerning it upon God. See Jam 4:13-15. We must not put off the great work of conversion, that one thing needful, till tomorrow, as if we were sure of it, but today, while it is called today, hear God's voice. 2. A good consideration, upon which this caution is grounded: We know not what a day may bring forth, what event may be in the teeming womb, of time; it is a secret till it is born, Ecc 11:5. A little time may produce considerable changes, and such as we little think of. We know not what the present day may bring forth; the evening must commend it. Nescis quid serus vesper vehat - Thou knowest not what the close of evening may bring with it. God has wisely kept us in the dark concerning future events, and reserved to himself the knowledge of them, as a flower of the crown, that he may train us up in a dependence upon himself and a continued readiness for every event, Act 1:7.
Cross-references: Matt 6:34 · Jas 4:13 · Eccl 11:5 · Acts 1:7