Proverbs 27:4-23

⁴Fury is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before jealousy?

⁵Open rebuke is better than hidden love.

⁶Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are profuse.

⁷The full soul trampleth on a honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.

⁸As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a man that wandereth from his place.

⁹Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart; and the sweetness of one's friend is the fruit of hearty counsel.

¹⁰Thine own friend, and thy father's friend, forsake not; and go not into thy brother's house in the day of thy calamity: better is a neighbour that is near than a brother far off.

¹¹Be wise, my son, and make my heart glad, that I may have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me.

¹²A prudent man seeth the evil, and hideth himself; the simple pass on, and are punished.

¹³Take his garment that is become surety for another, and hold him in pledge for a strange woman.

¹⁴He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, it shall be reckoned a curse to him.

¹⁵A continual dropping on a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike:

¹⁶whosoever will restrain her restraineth the wind, and his right hand encountereth oil.

¹⁷Iron is sharpened by iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.

¹⁸Whoso keepeth the fig-tree shall eat the fruit thereof; and he that guardeth his master shall be honoured.

¹⁹As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man.

²⁰Sheol and destruction are insatiable; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.

²¹The fining-pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold; so let a man be to the mouth that praiseth him.

²²If thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his folly depart from him.

²³Be well acquainted with the appearance of thy flocks; look well to thy herds: