Proverbs 27:5-24

⁵Open rebuke is better than hidden love.

⁶Better are the wounds of a friend, than the deceitful kisses of an enemy.

⁷A soul that is full shall tread upon the honeycomb: and a soul that is hungry shall take even bitter for sweet.

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

⁹Ointment and perfumes rejoice the heart: and the good counsels of a friend are sweet to the soul.

¹⁰Thy own friend, and thy father’s friend forsake not: and go not into thy brother’s house in the day of thy affliction. Better is a neighbour that is near, than a brother afar off.

¹¹Study wisdom, my son, and make my heart joyful, that thou mayst give an answer to him that reproacheth.

¹²The prudent man seeing evil hideth himself: little ones passing on have suffered losses.

¹³Take away his garment that hath been surety for a stranger: and take from him a pledge for strangers.

¹⁴He that blesseth his neighbour with a loud voice, rising in the night, shall be like to him that curseth.

¹⁵Roofs dropping through in a cold day, and a contentious woman are alike.

¹⁶He that retaineth her, is as he that would hold the wind, and shall call in the oil of his right hand.

¹⁷Iron sharpeneth iron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.

¹⁸He that keepeth the fig tree, shall eat the fruit thereof: and he that is the keeper of his master, shall be glorified.

¹⁹As the faces of them that look therein, shine in the water, so-the hearts of men are laid open to the wise.

²⁰Hell and destruction are never filled: so the eyes of men are never satisfied.

²¹As silver is tried in the fining-pot and gold in the furnace: so a man is tried by the mouth of him that praiseth. The heart of the wicked seeketh after evils, but the righteous heart seeketh after knowledge.

²²Though thou shouldst bray a fool in the mortar, as when a pestle striketh upon sodden barley, his folly would not be taken from him.

²³Be diligent to know the countenance of thy cattle, and consider thy own flocks:

²⁴For thou shalt not always have power: but a crown shall be given to generation and generation.