Proverbs 27:9-19

9 Oil and incense make the heart glad, and the sweetness of friends comes from their advice.

10 Don't desert your friend or a friend of your family; don't go to your relative's house when disaster strikes. Better a neighbor nearby than a relative far away.

11 Be wise, my child, and make my heart glad, so I can answer those who insult me.

12 Prudent people see evil and hide; the simpleminded go right to it and get punished.

13 Take the garment of the person who secures a loan for a stranger; take his pledge for a foreigner.

14 Greeting a neighbor with a loud voice early in the morning will be viewed as a curse.

15 The constant dripping on a rainy day and a contentious woman are alike;

16 anyone who can control her can control the wind or pick up oil in his hand.

17 As iron sharpens iron, so friends sharpen each other's faces.

18 Those who tend a fig tree will eat its fruit, and those who look after their master will be honored.

19 As water reflects the face, so the heart reflects one person to another.

Proverbs 27:9-19 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]. Heb uncertain