Proverbs 25:15-28

15 By ¹forbearance * a ruler may be persuaded, And a soft tongue breaks the bone.

16 Have you ²found honey? Eat only what you need, That you not have it in excess and vomit it.

17 Let your foot rarely be in your neighbor's house, Or he will become weary of you and hate you.

18 Like a club and a ³sword and a sharp ⁴arrow Is a man who bears ⁵false witness against his neighbor.

19 Like a bad tooth and an unsteady foot Is confidence in a ⁶faithless man in time of trouble.

20 Like one who takes off a garment on a cold day, or like vinegar on soda, Is he who sings songs to a troubled heart.

21 ⁷If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink;

22 For you will heap burning coals on his head, And ⁸the LORD will reward you.

23 The north wind brings forth rain, And a ⁹backbiting tongue, an angry countenance.

24 It is ¹⁰better to live in a corner of the roof Than in a house shared with a contentious woman.

25 Like cold water to a weary soul, So is ¹¹good news from a distant land.

26 Like a ¹²trampled spring and a polluted well Is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked.

27 It is not good to eat much honey, Nor is it glory to ¹³search out one's own glory.

28 Like a ¹⁴city that is broken into and without walls Is a man ¹⁵who has no control over his spirit.

Cross References

• 1. Genesis 32:4; 1 Samuel 25:24; Ecclesiastes 10:4
• 2. Judges 14:8; 1 Samuel 14:25
• 3. Psalms 57:4; Proverbs 12:18
• 4. Jeremiah 9:8
• 5. Exodus 20:16; Proverbs 24:28
• 6. Job 6:15; Isaiah 36:6
• 7. Exodus 23:4, 5; 2 Kings 6:22; 2 Chronicles 28:15; Matthew 5:44; Romans 12:20
• 8. 2 Samuel 16:12; Matthew 6:4, 6
• 9. Psalms 101:5
• 10. Proverbs 21:9
• 11. Proverbs 15:30
• 12. Ezekiel 32:2; Ezekiel 34:18, 19
• 13. Proverbs 27:2; Luke 14:11
• 14. Proverbs 16:32
• 15. 2 Chronicles 32:5; Nehemiah 1:3

Footnotes

• [a] Lit "length of anger"
• [b] Lit "your sufficiency"
• [c] Lit "surfeited with"
• [d] Lit "a slipping foot"
• [e] I.e. natron
• [f] Lit "an evil"
• [g] Lit "one who hates you"
• [h] Lit "snatch up"
• [i] Lit "tongue of secrecy"
• [j] Lit "with a woman of contentions and a house of association"
• [k] Lit "ruined"
• [l] Lit "their"