Proverbs 27:16-26

16 How can you keep her quiet? Have you ever tried to stop the wind or ever tried to hold a handful of oil?

17 People learn from one another, just as iron sharpens iron.

18 Take care of a fig tree and you will have figs to eat. Servants who take care of their master will be honored.

19 It is your own face that you see reflected in the water and it is your own self that you see in your heart.

20 Human desires are like the world of the dead - there is always room for more.

21 Fire tests gold and silver; a person's reputation can also be tested.

22 Even if you beat fools half to death, you still can't beat their foolishness out of them.

23 Look after your sheep and cattle as carefully as you can,

24 because wealth is not permanent. Not even nations last forever.

25 You cut the hay and then cut the grass on the hillsides while the next crop of hay is growing.

26 You can make clothes from the wool of your sheep and buy land with the money you get from selling some of your goats.

Proverbs 27:16-26 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. [Probable text] or ever . . . oil; [Hebrew unclear.]