Wisdom & Poetry · Old Testament
Proverbs 27
Proverbs 27: boast not of tomorrow, the wounds of a friend, iron sharpening iron, and knowing the state of thy flocks
General context
Boast not of tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth. Let another praise you and not your own mouth. A fool's wrath is heavier than stone and sand; wrath is cruel, but who can stand before envy? Open rebuke is better than secret love; faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. The full soul loathes a honeycomb, and to the hungry every bitter thing is sweet. A friend's hearty counsel rejoices the heart like ointment and perfume. Forsake not your own friend and your father's friend, for a near neighbour is better than a brother far off. "My son, be wise, and make my heart glad, that I may answer him that reproacheth me." A continual dropping on a rainy day and a contentious woman are alike, and hiding her is like hiding the wind. Iron sharpens iron, and a man sharpens the countenance of his friend. As face answers to face in water, so the heart of man to man. Hell and destruction are never full, nor the eyes of man satisfied. As the fining pot for silver, so is a man to his praise. The chapter closes with a longer passage: be diligent to know the state of your flocks and herds, for riches are not for ever, nor does the crown endure to every generation; the hay appears and the herbs are gathered; the lambs are for clothing and the goats the price of the field, and there will be goats' milk enough for your food, your household and your maidens.
Cited passages: Proverbs 27:1, Proverbs 27:2, Proverbs 27:3, Proverbs 27:4, Proverbs 27:5, Proverbs 27:6, Proverbs 27:7, Proverbs 27:8, Proverbs 27:9, Proverbs 27:10, Proverbs 27:11, Proverbs 27:12, Proverbs 27:13, Proverbs 27:14, Proverbs 27:15, Proverbs 27:16, Proverbs 27:17, Proverbs 27:18, Proverbs 27:19, Proverbs 27:20, Proverbs 27:21, Proverbs 27:22, Proverbs 27:23, Proverbs 27:24, Proverbs 27:25, Proverbs 27:26, Proverbs 27:27
Proverbs 27 (KJV)
1Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.
2Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips.
3A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; but a fool’s wrath is heavier than them both.
4Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?
5Open rebuke is better than secret love.
6Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
7The full soul loatheth an 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: so doth the sweetness of a man’s friend by hearty counsel.
10Thine own friend, and thy father’s friend, forsake not; neither go into thy brother’s house in the day of thy calamity: for better is a neighbour that is near than a brother far off.
11My son, be wise, and make my heart glad, that I may answer him that reproacheth me.
12A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished.
13Take his garment that is surety for a stranger, and take a pledge of him for a strange woman.
14He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse to him.
15A continual dropping in a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike.
16Whosoever hideth her hideth the wind, and the ointment of his right hand, which bewrayeth itself.
17Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.
18Whoso keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof: so he that waiteth on his master shall be honoured.
19As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man.
20Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.
21As the fining pot for silver, and the furnace for gold; so is a man to his praise.
22Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him.
23Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds.
24For riches are not for ever: and doth the crown endure to every generation?
25The hay appeareth, and the tender grass sheweth itself, and herbs of the mountains are gathered.
26The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are the price of the field.
27And thou shalt have goats’ milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household, and for the maintenance for thy maidens.
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Historical context
No heading; the chapter continues the proverbs 25:1 assigns to Hezekiah's copyists. The Lord is not named in this chapter, and verse 20 uses "Hell and destruction" as a measure of the eyes' appetite without defining them. Verse 11 addresses "My son" and gives the speaker's own reason, "that I may answer him that reproacheth me"; neither the speaker nor the reproacher is identified. Several verses repeat earlier sayings word for word or nearly so: verse 12 matches 22:3, verse 13 matches 20:16, verse 15 restates the "continual dropping" of 19:13, and the first half of verse 21 matches 17:3. The closing passage, verses 23 to 27, is addressed to someone who owns flocks, herds and a field and has a household and maidens; it names no place, and its remark that the crown does not endure "to every generation" is put as a question. "Thy master" in verse 18 is unnamed. The chapter reports no event; the bird from her nest, the fig tree and the fool in the mortar are comparisons.
Cited passages: Proverbs 25:1, Proverbs 27:20, Proverbs 27:11, Proverbs 27:12, Proverbs 22:3, Proverbs 27:13, Proverbs 20:16, Proverbs 27:15, Proverbs 19:13, Proverbs 27:21, Proverbs 17:3, Proverbs 27:24, Proverbs 27:27, Proverbs 27:18
Literary context
Friendship is the chapter's recurring subject: the friend's faithful wounds against the enemy's kisses (verse 6), the friend's hearty counsel (verse 9), the friend not to be forsaken and the near neighbour preferred (verse 10), the friend blessed too loudly (verse 14), the friend whose countenance is sharpened as iron sharpens iron (verse 17). Two sayings about praise bracket much of the chapter, praise that should come from another's mouth (verse 2) and praise as the test of a man like fire for metal (verse 21). Questions appear at verse 4 and verse 24. Comparisons are drawn from the body and the household: heavy stone and sand, honeycomb loathed and bitter things sweet, ointment and perfume, a bird and her nest, face answering face in water. The contentious woman takes two verses (15 and 16), the second turning her into wind and oil that cannot be held. The chapter opens by forbidding boasts about tomorrow and ends with the longest connected passage in chapters 25 to 29, a command to know the flocks, a reason (riches do not last), and then a plain sequence of provision: hay, grass, herbs, lambs, goats, milk, household, maidens. Nothing in that ending is a comparison; it is the thing itself.
Cited passages: Proverbs 27:6, Proverbs 27:9, Proverbs 27:10, Proverbs 27:14, Proverbs 27:17, Proverbs 27:2, Proverbs 27:21, Proverbs 27:4, Proverbs 27:3, Proverbs 27:7, Proverbs 27:19, Proverbs 27:16, Proverbs 27:1, Proverbs 27:23, Proverbs 27:24, Proverbs 27:26
Key moments
- Boast not of tomorrow (Proverbs 27:1). The reader is told not to boast of tomorrow, since no one knows what a day brings.
- The wounds of a friend (Proverbs 27:6). A friend's wounds are called faithful and an enemy's kisses deceitful.
- A neighbour that is near (Proverbs 27:10). A near neighbour is preferred to a brother far off in the day of calamity.
- Make my heart glad (Proverbs 27:11). The speaker asks his son to be wise so he can answer the one who reproaches him.
- Iron sharpeneth iron (Proverbs 27:17). As iron sharpens iron, a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.
- Eyes never satisfied (Proverbs 27:20). Hell and destruction are never full, and neither are the eyes of man.
- Know thy flocks (Proverbs 27:23). The reader is told to know the state of his flocks because riches do not last.
For reflection
Verse 1 forbids boasting of tomorrow, since no one knows what a day may bring, and verses 23 to 27 tell the reader to know the state of his flocks because riches do not last. What kind of looking ahead does the chapter allow, and what kind does it refuse?