Proverbs 27:5-15

5 ¹Better is open rebuke than hidden love.

6 Faithful are ²the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.

7 One who is full loathes ³honey, but to one who is hungry everything bitter is sweet.

8 Like ⁴a bird that strays from its nest is a man who strays from his home.

9 ⁵Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel. ^[a]

10 Do not forsake your friend and ⁶your father’s friend, and do not go to your brother’s house in the day of your calamity. ⁷Better is a neighbor who is near than a brother who is far away.

11 ⁸Be wise, ⁹my son, and ¹⁰make my heart glad, that I may ¹¹answer him who reproaches me.

12 ¹²The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but ¹³the simple go on and suffer for it.

13 ¹⁴Take a man’s garment when he has put up security for a stranger, and hold it in pledge when he puts up security for an adulteress. ^[b]

14 Whoever blesses his neighbor with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, will be counted as cursing.

15 ¹⁵A continual dripping on a rainy day and a quarrelsome wife are alike;

Proverbs 27:5-15 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 14

This chapter relates the sickness of Jeroboam's son, the application of his wife, at his instance, to the prophet Ahijah, in the child's favour, 1Ki 14:1-6, the prophecy of the prophet concerning the ruin of Jeroboam's house, and the death of the child, which came to pass, 1Ki 14:7-18, an account of the years of Jeroboam's reign, and also of Rehoboam's, 1Ki 14:19-21, and of the evil things done and suffered by the latter in his kingdom, and the calamities that came upon him for it, 1Ki 14:22-28 and the conclusion of his reign, 1Ki 14:29-31.

Cross References

• 1. 27:5 [ch. 28:23]
• 2. 27:6 Ps. 141:5
• 3. 27:7 [ch. 25:16]
• 4. 27:8 ch. 26:2
• 5. 27:9 [Ps. 23:5]
• 6. 27:10 See 1 Kgs. 12:6-8; 2 Chr. 10:6-8
• 7. 27:10 See ch. 17:17
• 8. 27:11 ch. 6:6
• 9. 27:11 ch. 10:1; 23:15, 24
• 10. 27:11 See ch. 29:3
• 11. 27:11 Ps. 119:42; [Ps. 127:5]
• 12. 27:12 ch. 22:3
• 13. 27:12 See ch. 1:4
• 14. 27:13 See ch. 20:16
• 15. 27:15 ch. 19:13

Footnotes

• [a] 27:9 Or 'and so does the sweetness of a friend that comes from his earnest counsel'
• [b] 27:13 Hebrew 'a foreign woman'; a slight emendation yields (compare Vulgate; see also 20:16) 'foreigners'