27
1 Boast not thyself of yom makhar (tomorrow),
for thou hast no da'as of what a yom may bring forth.
2 Let another praise thee, and not thine own peh (mouth);
a nokhri (stranger), and not thine own sfatayim (lips).
3 An even (stone) is heavy, and the chol (sand) weighty;
but a foolʼs wrath is heavier than them both.
4 Chemah (anger) is cruel, and fury is a torrent,
but who is able to stand before kinah (jealousy, envy)?
5 Open tovah tokhakhat (good, constructive reproof)
is better than secret ahavah.
6 Ne'emanim (faithful) are the wounds of an ohev (friend);
but deceitful the neshikot (kisses) of an enemy.
7 The full nefesh trampleth a honeycomb,
but to the hungry nefesh every mar (bitter thing) is sweet.
8 As a tzippor that wandereth from her ken (nest),
so is an ish that wandereth from his makom (place, home).
9 Shemen and ketoret rejoice the lev;
so doth the sweet discourse of a re'a (friend) from an atzat nefesh (a counselling of the soul).
10 Thine own re'a (friend),
and the re'a avicha, forsake not;
neither go into thy brotherʼs bais in the yom of thy calamity;
for better is a shakhen (neighbor) that is near than a brother far off.
11 Beni (my son), be chacham, and make my lev glad,
that I may answer my accusers.
12 A prudent man foreseeth ra'ah, and hideth himself;
but the naïve ones trudge on, and are punished.
13 Take his beged (garment) that is collateral for a zar;
seize the pledge given for surety for a nokhriyah (strange woman, foreign woman, seductress).
14 He that maketh a bracha on his re'a (friend)
with a kol gadol (loud voice), rising early in the boker,
it shall be counted a kelalah to him.
15 A continual dripping in a very rainy day
and a quarrelsome isha are alike;
16 To restrain her is like restraining the ruach (wind),
and like grasping shemen in the right hand.
17 Barzel (iron) sharpeneth barzel (iron);
so one ish sharpeneth another.
18 He who is guard over the te'enah (fig tree) shall eat the p'ri (fruit) thereof,
so he that is shomer over his adon shall be honored.
19 As mayim reflecteth the face,
so one lev ha'adam reflects another.
20 Sheol and Avaddon are never full;
so the eynayim of adam are never satisfied.
21 As the crucible is for kesef, and the furnace for zahav;
so is an ish tested by the praise he receives.
22 Though thou shouldest grind a fool
in the makhtesh (mortar) among grain with the pestle,
yet will not his folly be removed from him.
23 Be thou diligent to know the condition of thy tzon,
and look well to thy adarim (flocks).
24 For riches are not l'olam (forever);
and doth the nezer (crown) endure dor vador?
25 The hay is removed, and the deshe (tender grass) showeth itself,
and herbs of the harim are gathered,
26 The kevasim (lambs) are for thy clothing,
and the goats are the purchase price of the sadeh.
27 And thou shalt have cholov of izzim (goats) enough for thy lechem,
for the lechem of thy bais,
and for the nourishment of thy na'arot (servant girls).