Instructions and Warnings

1Do not boast about tomorrow,

For you do not know what a day may bring forth.

2Let a stranger praise you, and not your own mouth;

A foreigner, and not your own lips.

3A stone is heavy and the sand weighty,

But the provocation of an ignorant fool is heavier than both of them.

4Wrath is cruelty and anger is a flood,

But who can stand before jealousy?

5Better is reproof that is revealed

Than love that is hidden.

6Faithful are the wounds of a friend,

But [†]deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.

7A satisfied soul tramples the honeycomb,

But to a hungry soul any bitter thing is sweet.

8Like a bird that wanders from her nest,

So is a man who wanders from his place.

9Oil and incense make the heart glad,

So counsel from the [†]soul is sweet to his friend.

10Do not forsake your friend or your father’s friend,

And do not come to your brother’s house in the day of your disaster;

Better is one who dwells near than a brother far away.

11Be wise, my son, and make my heart glad,

That I may respond with a word to him who reproaches me.

12A prudent man sees evil and hides,

The simple pass on and are punished.

13Take his garment when he becomes a guarantor for a stranger;

And for [†]a foreign woman seize it as a pledge.

14He who blesses his friend with a loud voice early in the morning,

It will be counted as a curse to him.

15A constant dripping on a day of steady rain

And a contentious woman are alike;

16He who would [†]restrain her [†]restrains the wind,

And [†]grasps oil with his right hand.

17Iron sharpens iron,

So one man sharpens another.

18He who guards the fig tree will eat its fruit,

And he who keeps watch for his master will be honored.

19As in water face reflects face,

So the heart of man reflects man.

20Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied,

So the eyes of man are never satisfied.

21The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold,

And each is tested by the mouth that praises him.

22Though you pound an ignorant fool in a mortar with a pestle in the midst of crushed grain,

His [†]folly will not turn aside from him.

23Know well the [†]condition of your flocks,

And pay attention to your herds;

24For wealth is not forever,

Neither is a crown from generation to generation.

25When the grass disappears and the vegetation appears,

And the herbs of the mountains are gathered in,

26The lambs will be for your clothing,

And the goats will bring the price of a field,

27And there will be enough goats’ milk for your food,

For the food of your household,

And sustenance for your maidens.