Proverbs 27 KJV
Friendship and Prudence
Proverbs Chapter 27: Friendship and Prudence
This chapter explores themes of Friendship. The 'iron sharpens iron' metaphor in verse 17 draws on ancient Near Eastern blacksmithing techniques where repeated friction between iron implements both honed edges and risked sparks, illustrating how genuine friendship involves both mutual improvement and potential friction rather than mere comfort.
1oast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.
2 Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips.
3 A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; but a foolโs wrath is heavier than them both.
4 Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?
5 Open rebuke is better than secret love.
6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
7 The full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.
8 As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a man that wandereth from his place.
9 Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so doth the sweetness of a manโs friend by hearty counsel.
10 Thine own friend, and thy fatherโs friend, forsake not; neither go into thy brotherโs house in the day of thy calamity: for better is a neighbour that is near than a brother far off.
11 My son, be wise, and make my heart glad, that I may answer him that reproacheth me.
12 A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished.
13 Take his garment that is surety for a stranger, and take a pledge of him for a strange woman.
14 He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse to him.
15 A continual dropping in a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike.
16 Whosoever hideth her hideth the wind, and the ointment of his right hand, which bewrayeth itself.
17 Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.
18 Whoso keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof: so he that waiteth on his master shall be honoured.
19 As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man.
20 Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.
21 As the fining pot for silver, and the furnace for gold; so is a man to his praise.
22 Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him.
23 Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds.
24 For riches are not for ever: and doth the crown endure to every generation?
25 The hay appeareth, and the tender grass sheweth itself, and herbs of the mountains are gathered.
26 The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are the price of the field.
27 And thou shalt have goatsโ milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household, and for the maintenance for thy maidens.
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Did You Know?
The 'iron sharpens iron' metaphor in verse 17 draws on ancient Near Eastern blacksmithing techniques where repeated friction between iron implements both honed edges and risked sparks, illustrating how genuine friendship involves both mutual improvement and potential friction rather than mere comfort.
Verse 6's preference for a friend's 'wounds' over an enemy's kisses inverts the typical ancient honor-shame culture that prized public flattery, instead elevating private, painful honesty as an expression of covenantal loyalty akin to the Hebrew term 'emet.
The chapter's opening prohibition against boasting of tomorrow (v. 1) counters the mantic practices of surrounding cultures like Babylonian extispicy, asserting instead that human knowledge is radically limited by Yahweh's hidden purposes for each day.
Verse 20's pairing of insatiable Sheol with the human eye echoes Canaanite myths of Mot devouring Baal yet adapts the image theologically to portray covetousness as a death-like force that no amount of acquisition can satisfy.
The mortar-and-pestle image in verse 22 for attempting to remove folly from a fool parallels Egyptian wisdom instructions that use grain-processing metaphors to depict the limits of education, but here underscores the biblical view that folly is a moral defect resistant even to violent external force.