The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 Don't boast about tomorrow, for you don't know what the day may bring.
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Do not make a noise about tomorrow, for you are not certain what a day's outcome may be.
2 Let someone else praise you, not your own mouth, a stranger and not your own lips.
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Let another man give you praise, and not your mouth; one who is strange to you, and not your lips.
3 Stone is heavy and sand a dead weight, but a fool's provocation outweighs them both.
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A stone has great weight, and sand is crushing; but the wrath of the foolish is of greater weight than these.
4 Fury is cruel and anger overwhelming, but who can stand up to jealousy?
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Wrath is cruel, and angry feeling an overflowing stream; but who does not give way before envy?
5 Better open rebuke than hidden love.
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Better is open protest than love kept secret.
6 Wounds from a friend are received as well-meant, but an enemy's kisses are insincere.
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The wounds of a friend are given in good faith, but the kisses of a hater are false.
7 A person who is full loathes a honeycomb; but to the hungry, any bitter thing is sweet.
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The full man has no use for honey, but to the man in need of food every bitter thing is sweet.
8 Like a bird that strays from its nest is a man who strays from his home.
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Like a bird wandering from the place of her eggs is a man wandering from his station.
9 Perfume and incense make the heart glad, [also] friendship sweet with advice from the heart.
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Oil and perfume make glad the heart, and the wise suggestion of a friend is sweet to the soul.
10 Don't abandon a friend who is also a friend of your father. Don't enter your brother's house on the day of your calamity -better a neighbor nearby than a brother far away.
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Do not give up your friend and your father's friend; and do not go into your brother's house in the day of your trouble: better is a neighbour who is near than a brother far off.
11 My son, become wise, and gladden my heart, so that I can answer my critics.
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My son, be wise and make my heart glad, so that I may give back an answer to him who puts me to shame.
12 The clever see trouble coming and hide; the thoughtless go on and pay the penalty.
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The sharp man sees the evil and takes cover: the simple go straight on and get into trouble.
13 Seize his clothes because he guaranteed a stranger's loan; take them as security for that unknown woman.
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Take a man's clothing if he makes himself responsible for a strange man, and get an undertaking from him who gives his word for strange men.
14 Whoever greets his neighbor in a loud voice at dawn might just as well have cursed him.
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He who gives a blessing to his friend with a loud voice, getting up early in the morning, will have it put to his account as a curse.
15 A leak that keeps dripping on a rainy day and the nagging of a wife are the same -
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Like an unending dropping on a day of rain is a bitter-tongued woman.
16 whoever can restrain her can restrain the wind or keep perfume on his hand from making itself known.
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He who keeps secret the secret of his friend, will get himself a name for good faith.
17 Just as iron sharpens iron, a person sharpens the character of his friend.
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Iron makes iron sharp; so a man makes sharp his friend.
18 Whoever tends the fig tree will eat its fruit, and he who is attentive to his master will be honored.
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Whoever keeps a fig-tree will have its fruit; and the servant waiting on his master will be honoured.
19 Just as water reflects the face, so one human heart reflects another.
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Like face looking at face in water, so are the hearts of men to one another.
20 Sh'ol and Abaddon are never satisfied, and human eyes are never satisfied.
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The underworld and Abaddon are never full, and the eyes of man have never enough.
21 The crucible [tests] silver, and the furnace [tests] gold, but a person [is tested] by [his reaction to] praise.
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The heating-pot is for silver and the oven-fire for gold, and a man is measured by what he is praised for.
22 You can crush a fool in a mortar with a pestle, along with the grain being crushed; yet his foolishness will not leave him.
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Even if a foolish man is crushed with a hammer in a vessel among crushed grain, still his foolish ways will not go from him.
23 Take care to know the condition of your flocks, and pay attention to your herds.
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Take care to have knowledge about the condition of your flocks, looking well after your herds;
24 For wealth doesn't last forever, neither does a crown through all generations.
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For wealth is not for ever, and money does not go on for all generations.
25 When the hay has been mown, and the new grass appears, and the mountain greens have been gathered;
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The grass comes up and the young grass is seen, and the mountain plants are got in.
26 the lambs will provide your clothing, the goats will sell for enough to buy a field,
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The lambs are for your clothing, and the he-goats make the value of a field:
27 and there will be enough goat's milk to [buy] food for you and your household and maintenance for your servant-girls.
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There will be goats' milk enough for your food, and for the support of your servant-girls.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.