Do Not Boast about Tomorrow
(James 4:13–17)

1Make not thy boast of to morowe: for thou knowest not what a day may bring foorth.

2Let another man prayse thee, and not thyne owne mouth, yea other folkes, and not thyne owne lippes.

3The stone is heauie, and the sande wayghtie: but a fooles wrath is heauier then them both.

4Wrath is a cruell thing, and furiousnesse is a very tempest: but who is able to abide enuie?

5Open rebuke, is better then secrete loue.

6Faythfull are the woundes of a louer: but the kysses of an enemie are cruell.

7He that is full, abhorreth an honye combe: but vnto hym that is hungrye, euery sowre thing is sweete.

8He that oft times flitteth, is like a byrd that forsaketh her nest.

9Baulme and sweete incense make the heart merie: so sweete is that frende that geueth counsell from the heart.

10Thyne owne frende and thy fathers frende see thou forsake not, and go not into thy brothers house in tyme of thy trouble: for better is a frende at hand, then a brother farre of.

11My sonne be wyse, and make me a glad heart, that I may make aunswere vnto my rebukers.

12A wyse man seing the plague, wyll hide hym selfe: as for fooles they go on styll and suffer harme.

13Take his garment that is suretie for a straunger, and take a pledge of hym for the vnknowen sake.

14He that is to hastie to praise his neighbour aboue measure, shalbe taken as one that geueth hym an euyll report.

15A brawling woman and the roofe of the house dropping in a raynie day, may well be compared together.

16He that stilleth her, stilleth the winde, and stoppeth the smell of the oyntment in his hande.

17Like as one iron whetteth another, so doth one man comfort another.

18Whoso kepeth his figge tree, shall eate the fruites thereof: so he that wayteth vpon his maister, shall come to honour.

19Like as in one water there appeare diuers faces: euen so diuers men haue diuers heartes.

20Hell and destruction are neuer full: euen so the eyes of men can neuer be satisfied.

21As is the fining pot for the siluer, and the furnace for golde: so is a man tryed by the mouth of him that prayseth him.

22Though thou shouldest bray a foole with a pestel in a morter like furmentie corne: yet wyll not his foolishnes go from hym.

23Be thou diligent to knowe the state of thy cattell thy selfe, and loke well to thy flockes.

24For riches abideth not alway, and the crowne endureth not for euer.

25The hay groweth, the grasse commeth vp, and hearbes are gathered in the mountaynes.

26The lambes shall clothe thee, and for the goates thou shalt haue money to thy husbandry.

27Thou shalt haue goates milke inough to feede thee, to vpholde thy housholde, and to sustayne thy maydens.