Instructions and Warnings
aDo not boast about tomorrow,
For you bdo not know what a day may bring forth.
2 Let a astranger praise you, and not your own mouth;
A foreigner, and not your own lips.
3 A stone is heavy and the sand weighty,
But the provocation of an ignorant fool is heavier than both of them.
4 Wrath is cruelty and anger is a flood,
But awho can stand before jealousy?
5 Better is reproof that is arevealed
Than love that is hidden.
6 Faithful are the awounds of a friend,
But deceitful are the bkisses of an enemy.
7 A satisfied soul tramples the honeycomb,
But to a hungry soul any bitter thing is sweet.
8 Like a abird that wanders from her nest,
So is a man who bwanders from his place.
9 aOil and incense make the heart glad,
So counsel from the soul is sweet to his friend.
10 Do not forsake your afriend or byour 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.
11 aBe wise, my son, and make my heart glad,
That I may brespond with a word to him who reproaches me.
12 A prudent man sees evil and hides,
The simple pass on and are punished.
13 aTake his garment when he becomes a guarantor for a stranger;
And for a foreign woman seize it as a pledge.
14 aHe who blesses his friend with a loud voice early in the morning,
It will be counted as a curse to him.
15 A aconstant dripping on a day of steady rain
And a contentious woman are alike;
16 He who would restrain her restrains the wind,
And grasps oil with his right hand.
17 Iron sharpens iron,
So one man sharpens another.
18 He who guards the afig tree will eat its fruit,
And he who bkeeps watch for his master will be honored.
19 As in water face reflects face,
So the heart of man reflects man.
20 aSheol and Abaddon are bnever satisfied,
So the ceyes of man are never satisfied.
21 The arefining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold,
And each bis tested by the mouth that praises him.
22 Though you apound an ignorant fool in a mortar with a pestle in the midst of crushed grain,
His folly will not turn aside from him.
23 aKnow well the condition of your flocks,
And pay attention to your herds;
24 For wealth is not forever,
Neither is a acrown from generation to generation.
25 When the grass disappears and the vegetation appears,
And the herbs of the mountains are agathered in,
26 The lambs will be for your clothing,
And the goats will bring the price of a field,
27 And there will be enough goats’ milk for your food,
For the food of your household,
And sustenance for your maidens.