Common English Bible CEB
The Message Bible MSG
1 Don't brag about tomorrow, for you don't know what a day will bring.
1
Don't brashly announce what you're going to do tomorrow; you don't know the first thing about tomorrow.
2 Let another person praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips.
2
Don't call attention to yourself; let others do that for you.
3 A stone is heavy and sand weighs much, but the nuisance of fools is heavier than both.
3
Carrying a log across your shoulders while you're hefting a boulder with your arms Is nothing compared to the burden of putting up with a fool.
4 Wrath is cruel and anger is a flood, but who can withstand jealousy?
4
We're blasted by anger and swamped by rage, but who can survive jealousy?
5 A public correction is better than hidden love.
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A spoken reprimand is better than approval that's never expressed.
6 Trustworthy are the bruises of a friend; excessive are the kisses of an enemy.
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The wounds from a lover are worth it; kisses from an enemy do you in.
7 Someone who is full refuses honey, but anything bitter tastes sweet to a hungry person.
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When you've stuffed yourself, you refuse dessert; when you're starved, you could eat a horse.
8 Like a bird wandering from its nest, so is one who wanders from home.
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People who won't settle down, wandering hither and yon, are like restless birds, flitting to and fro.
9 Oil and incense make the heart glad, and the sweetness of friends comes from their advice.
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Just as lotions and fragrance give sensual delight, a sweet friendship refreshes the soul.
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.
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Don't leave your friends or your parents' friends and run home to your family when things get rough; Better a nearby friend than a distant family.
11 Be wise, my child, and make my heart glad, so I can answer those who insult me.
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Become wise, dear child, and make me happy; then nothing the world throws my way will upset me.
12 Prudent people see evil and hide; the simpleminded go right to it and get punished.
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A prudent person sees trouble coming and ducks; a simpleton walks in blindly and is clobbered.
13 Take the garment of the person who secures a loan for a stranger; take his pledge for a foreigner.
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Hold tight to collateral on any loan to a stranger; be wary of accepting what a transient has pawned.
14 Greeting a neighbor with a loud voice early in the morning will be viewed as a curse.
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If you wake your friend in the early morning by shouting "Rise and shine!" It will sound to him more like a curse than a blessing.
15 The constant dripping on a rainy day and a contentious woman are alike;
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A nagging spouse is like the drip, drip, drip of a leaky faucet;
16 anyone who can control her can control the wind or pick up oil in his hand.
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You can't turn it off, and you can't get away from it. Your Face Mirrors Your Heart
17 As iron sharpens iron, so friends sharpen each other's faces.
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You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another.
18 Those who tend a fig tree will eat its fruit, and those who look after their master will be honored.
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If you care for your orchard, you'll enjoy its fruit; if you honor your boss, you'll be honored.
19 As water reflects the face, so the heart reflects one person to another.
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Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart.
20 The grave and the underworld are never satisfied; and people's eyes are never satisfied.
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Hell has a voracious appetite, and lust just never quits.
21 A crucible is for silver and a furnace for gold, so are people in the presence of someone who praises them.
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The purity of silver and gold is tested by putting them in the fire; The purity of human hearts is tested by giving them a little fame.
22 Even if you grind fools in a mortar, even grinding them along with the grain, their folly won't be driven from them.
22
Pound on a fool all you like - you can't pound out foolishness.
23 Know your flock well; pay attention to your herds,
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Know your sheep by name; carefully attend to your flocks;
24 for no treasure lasts forever, nor a crown generation after generation.
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(Don't take them for granted; possessions don't last forever, you know.)
25 When the grass goes away, new growth appears, and the plants of the hills are gathered,
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And then, when the crops are in and the harvest is stored in the barns,
26 then the lambs will provide your clothes, and the goats will be the price of your fields.
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You can knit sweaters from lambs' wool, and sell your goats for a profit;
27 There will be enough goat's milk for your food, for the food of your house, and to nourish your young women.
27
There will be plenty of milk and meat to last your family through the winter.