Boast not thyself of tomorrow,{HR}For thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.
Let another praise thee and not thine own mouth,{HR}A stranger and not thine own lips.
A stone [is] heavy and the sand weighty;{HR}But a fool’s vexation [is] heavier than them both.
Wrath [is] cruel, and anger outrageous;{HR}But who [is] able to stand before jealousy?
Open rebuke [is] better than hidden love.
Faithful [are] a friend’s wounds;{HR}But an enemy’s kisses are profuse.
The full soul trampleth on a honeycomb;{HR}But to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.
As a bird that wandereth from her nest,{HR}So [is] a man that wandereth from his place.
Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart;{HR}So the sweetness of a man’s friend from hearty counsel.
Thine own friend, and thy father’s friend, forsake not;{HR}And go not to thy brother’s house in the day of thy calamity:{HR}Better [is] a neighbour near than a brother far off.
My son, be wise, and make my heart glad,{HR}That I may answer him that reproacheth me.
A prudent [man] seeth the evil [and] hideth himself;{HR}The simple pass on [and] suffer for it.
Take his garment that is surety for a stranger,{HR}And hold him in pledge [that is surety] for a strange woman.
He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice,{HR}Rising early in the morning,{HR}It shall be reckoned a curse to him.
A continual dropping on a very rainy day{HR}And a contentious woman are alike:
Whosoever will restrain her restraineth the wind,{HR}And his right hand encountereth oil.
Iron is sharpened by iron;{HR}So a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.
Whoso keepeth the fig-tree shall eat the fruit thereof;{HR}And he that guardeth his master shall be honoured.
As [in] water face [answereth] to face,{HR}So the heart of man to man.
Sheol and destruction are insatiable;{HR}So the eyes of man are never satisfied.
The fining-pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold;{HR}So let a man be to the mouth that praiseth him.
If thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle,{HR}Yet will not his folly depart from him.
Be well acquainted with the appearance of thy flocks;{HR}Look well to thy herds:{HR}
For wealth is not for ever;{HR}And doth the crown [endure] from generation to generation?{HR}
The hay is removed, and the tender grass showeth itself,{HR}And herbs of the mountains are gathered in.{HR}
The lambs are for thy clothing,{HR}And the goats are the price of a field;{HR}
And there is goats’ milk enough for thy food,{HR}For the food of thy household,{HR}And sustenance for thy maidens.