Proverbs 27:13-23

13 Take his garment, for he gives surety [to] a stranger, and to {an adulteress}--[so] take his pledge.

14 He who blesses his neighbor with a loud voice early in the morning, a curse will be reckoned to him.

15 Dripping constantly on a day of heavy rain and a woman of contention are alike.

16 [In] restraining her, he restrains wind, and his right hand will grasp oil.

17 [As] iron sharpens iron, so {one man sharpens another}.

18 He who tends a fig tree will eat its fruit, and he who guards his master will be honored.

19 As the waters [reflect] {face to face}, so the heart of a person [reflects] the person.

20 Sheol and Abaddon will not be satisfied, and the eyes of a person will not be satisfied [either].

21 A crucible [is] for the silver, and a furnace for the gold, but a man [is tested by] the mouth of him who praises him.

22 If you crush a fool in the mortar with the pestle {along with} the crushed grain, it will not drive folly from upon him.

23 You will surely know the {condition} of your flock; your heart attends to the herds.

Proverbs 27:13-23 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]. Literally "a foreign woman"
• [b]. Or "wife"
• [c]. Or "breath, or "spirit"
• [d]. Or "fat"
• [e]. Or "is united with"
• [f]. Literally "a man sharpens [the] faces of his friend"
• [g]. Or "lord"
• [h]. Literally "the faces to the faces"
• [i]. A term for the place where the dead reside, i.e., the Underworld
• [j]. Poetic synonym for "Sheol." Only mentioned in the ot in relation to Sheol, the grave, or death.
• [k]. Or "in the midst of"
• [l]. Literally "faces"
• [m]. Or "mind"