Proverbs 27:8-18

8 Like ¹a bird that strays from its nest is a man who strays from his home.

9 ²Oil 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 ³your father’s friend, and do not go to your brother’s house in the day of your calamity. ⁴Better is a neighbor who is near than a brother who is far away.

11 ⁵Be wise, ⁶my son, and ⁷make my heart glad, that I may ⁸answer him who reproaches me.

12 ⁹The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but ¹⁰the simple go on and suffer for it.

13 ¹¹Take 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 ¹²A 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]

18 ¹³Whoever tends a fig tree will eat its fruit, and he who ¹⁴guards his master will be honored.

Proverbs 27:8-18 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. 27:8 ch. 26:2
• 2. 27:9 [Ps. 23:5]
• 3. 27:10 See 1 Kgs. 12:6-8; 2 Chr. 10:6-8
• 4. 27:10 See ch. 17:17
• 5. 27:11 ch. 6:6
• 6. 27:11 ch. 10:1; 23:15, 24
• 7. 27:11 See ch. 29:3
• 8. 27:11 Ps. 119:42; [Ps. 127:5]
• 9. 27:12 ch. 22:3
• 10. 27:12 See ch. 1:4
• 11. 27:13 See ch. 20:16
• 12. 27:15 ch. 19:13
• 13. 27:18 Song 8:12; 1 Cor. 3:8; 9:7; 2 Tim. 2:6
• 14. 27:18 [Matt. 25:21]

Footnotes

• [a] 27:9 Or 'and so does the sweetness of a friend that comes from his earnest counsel'
• [b] 27:13 Hebrew 'a foreign woman'; a slight emendation yields (compare Vulgate; see also 20:16) 'foreigners'
• [c] 27:16 Hebrew 'to meet with'
• [d] 27:17 Hebrew 'sharpens the face of another'