Proverbs 27:12-22

12 Sensible people foresee trouble and hide. Gullible people go ahead [and] suffer.

13 Hold on to the garment of one who guarantees a stranger's loan, and hold responsible the person who makes a loan in behalf of a foreigner.

14 Whoever blesses his friend early in the morning with a loud voice-- his blessing is considered a curse.

15 Constantly dripping water on a rainy day is like a quarreling woman.

16 Whoever can control her can control the wind. He can even pick up olive oil with his right hand.

17 [As] iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens the wits of another.

18 Whoever takes care of a fig tree can eat its fruit, and whoever protects his master is honored.

19 As a face is reflected in water, so a person is reflected by his heart.

20 Hell and decay are never satisfied, and a person's eyes are never satisfied.

21 The crucible is for refining silver and the smelter for gold, but a person [is tested] by the praise given to him.

22 If you crush a stubborn fool in a mortar with a pestle along with grain, [even then] his stupidity will not leave him.

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.