Proverbs - The Old Testament

¹ Do not congratulate yourself about tomorrow, since you do not know what today will bring forth.

² Let someone else sing your praises, but not your own mouth, a stranger, but not your own lips.

³ Heavy is the stone, weighty is the sand; heavier than both -- a grudge borne by a fool.

⁴ Cruel is wrath, overwhelming is anger; but jealousy, who can withstand that?

⁵ Better open reproof than feigned love.

⁶ Trustworthy are blows from a friend, deceitful are kisses from a foe.

⁷ The gorged throat revolts at honey, the hungry throat finds all bitterness sweet.

⁸ Like a bird that strays from its nest, so is anyone who strays away from home.

⁹ Oil and perfume gladden the heart, and the sweetness of friendship rather than self-reliance.

¹⁰ Do not give up your friend or your father's friend; when trouble comes, do not go off to your brother's house, better a near neighbour than a distant brother.

¹¹ Learn to be wise, my child, and gladden my heart, that I may have an answer for anyone who insults me.

¹² The discreet sees danger and takes shelter, simpletons go ahead and pay the penalty.

¹³ Take the man's clothes! He has gone surety for a stranger. Take a pledge from him, for persons unknown.

¹⁴ Whoever at dawn loudly blesses his neighbour -- it will be reckoned to him as a curse.

¹⁵ The dripping of a gutter on a rainy day and a quarrelsome woman are alike;

¹⁶ whoever can restrain her, can restrain the wind, and take a firm hold on grease.

¹⁷ Iron is sharpened by iron, one person is sharpened by contact with another.

¹⁸ Whoever tends the fig tree eats its figs, whoever looks after his master will be honoured.

¹⁹ As water reflects face back to face, so one human heart reflects another.

²⁰ Sheol and Perdition are never satisfied, insatiable, too, are human eyes.

²¹ A furnace for silver, a foundry for gold: a person is worth what his reputation is worth.

²² Pound a fool in a mortar, among grain with a pestle, his folly will not leave him.

²³ Know your flocks' condition well, take good care of your herds;

²⁴ for riches do not last for ever, crowns do not hand themselves on from age to age.

²⁵ The grass once gone, the aftergrowth appearing, the hay gathered in from the mountains,

²⁶ you should have lambs to clothe you, goats to buy you a field,

²⁷ goat's milk sufficient to feed you, to feed your household and provide for your serving girls.