Proverbs 27:7-17

7 One who is full loathes ¹honey, but to one who is hungry everything bitter is sweet.

8 Like ²a bird that strays from its nest is a man who strays from his home.

9 ³Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel.^[a]

10 Do not forsake your friend and ⁴your father's friend, and do not go to your brother's house in the day of your calamity. ⁵Better is a neighbor who is near than a brother who is far away.

11 ⁶Be wise, ⁷my son, and ⁸make my heart glad, that I may ⁹answer him who reproaches me.

12 ¹⁰The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but ¹¹the simple go on and suffer for it.

13 ¹²Take a man's garment when he has put up security for a stranger, and hold it in pledge when he puts up security for an adulteress.^[b]

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

15 ¹³A continual dripping on a rainy day and a quarrelsome wife are alike;

16 to restrain her is to restrain the wind or to grasp^[c] oil in one's right hand.

17 Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.^[d]

Proverbs 27:7-17 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.

Cross References

• 1. [Proverbs 25:16]
• 2. Proverbs 26:2
• 3. [Psalms 23:5]
• 4. See 1 Kings 12:6-8; 2 Chronicles 10:6-8
• 5. See Proverbs 17:17
• 6. Proverbs 6:6
• 7. Proverbs 10:1; Proverbs 23:15, 24
• 8. See Proverbs 29:3
• 9. Psalms 119:42; [Psalms 127:5]
• 10. Proverbs 22:3
• 11. See Proverbs 1:4
• 12. See Proverbs 20:16
• 13. Proverbs 19:13

Footnotes

• [a]. Or and so does the sweetness of a friend that comes from his earnest counsel
• [b]. Hebrew a foreign woman; a slight emendation yields (compare Vulgate; see also 20:16) foreigners
• [c]. Hebrew to meet with
• [d]. Hebrew sharpens the face of another