Proverbs 27:8-18

8 Like a bird that strays from its nest is one who strays from home.

9 Perfume and incense make the heart glad, but the soul is torn by trouble.

10 Do not forsake your friend or the friend of your parent; do not go to the house of your kindred in the day of your calamity. Better is a neighbor who is nearby than kindred who are far away.

11 Be wise, my child, and make my heart glad, so that I may answer whoever reproaches me.

12 The clever see danger and hide; but the simple go on, and suffer for it.

13 Take the garment of one who has given surety for a stranger; seize the pledge given as surety for foreigners.

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

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

16 to restrain her is to restrain the wind or to grasp oil in the right hand.

17 Iron sharpens iron, and one person sharpens the wits of another.

18 Anyone who tends a fig tree will eat its fruit, and anyone who takes care of a master will be honored.

Proverbs 27:8-18 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]. Gk: Heb [the sweetness of a friend is better than one's own counsel]
• [b]. Vg and 20.16: Heb [for a foreign woman]
• [c]. Meaning of Heb uncertain
• [d]. Heb [face]