Proverbs 27:4-14

4 Cruel [is] wrath and overwhelming [is] anger, but who will stand before jealousy?

5 Better a rebuke that is open than a love that is hidden.

6 The wounds of a friend mean well, but the kisses of an enemy are profane.

7 An {appetite} that is sated spurns honey, but [to] an {appetite} that is ravenous, all bitterness [is] sweet.

8 Like a bird that strays from its nest, so is a man who strays from his place.

9 Perfume and incense will gladden a heart, and the pleasantness of one's friend [is] {personal advice}.

10 As for your friend and a friend of your father, do not forsake [them], and the house of your brother, do not enter on the day of your calamity. Better is a close neighbor than a distant brother.

11 Be wise, my child, and make my heart glad, and I will answer him who reproaches me [with] a word.

12 [When] the clever sees danger, he hides; the simple go on [and] suffer.

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.

Proverbs 27:4-14 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 "soul"
• [b] Literally "soul"
• [c] Literally "because of advice of a person"
• [d] Literally "a foreign woman"