Proverbs 27:12-22

12 Sensible people will see trouble coming and avoid it, but an unthinking person will walk right into it and regret it later.

13 Any people stupid enough to promise to be responsible for a stranger's debts deserve to have their own property held to guarantee payment.

14 You might as well curse your friends as wake them up early in the morning with a loud greeting.

15 A nagging wife is like water going drip-drip-drip on a rainy day.

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.

Proverbs 27:12-22 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]. [One ancient translation] stranger's debts; [Hebrew] stranger's debts or those of an immoral woman.
• [b]. [Probable text] or ever . . . oil; [Hebrew unclear.]