English Standard Version ESV
The Message Bible MSG
1 Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may 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 praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips.
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Don't call attention to yourself; let others do that for you.
3 A stone is heavy, and sand is weighty, but a fool's provocation is heavier than both.
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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, anger is overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy?
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We're blasted by anger and swamped by rage, but who can survive jealousy?
5 Better is open rebuke than hidden love.
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A spoken reprimand is better than approval that's never expressed.
6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse 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 One who is full loathes honey, but to one who is hungry everything bitter is sweet.
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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 that strays from its nest is a man who strays from his 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 perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel.
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Just as lotions and fragrance give sensual delight, a sweet friendship refreshes the soul.
10 Do not forsake your friend and your father's friend, and do not go to your brother's house in the day of your calamity. Better is a neighbor who is near than a brother who is 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 son, and make my heart glad, that I may answer him who reproaches me.
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Become wise, dear child, and make me happy; then nothing the world throws my way will upset me.
12 The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it.
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A prudent person sees trouble coming and ducks; a simpleton walks in blindly and is clobbered.
13 Take 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.
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Hold tight to collateral on any loan to a stranger; be wary of accepting what a transient has pawned.
14 Whoever blesses his neighbor with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, will be counted as cursing.
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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 A continual dripping on a rainy day and a quarrelsome wife are alike;
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A nagging spouse is like the drip, drip, drip of a leaky faucet;
16 to restrain her is to restrain the wind or to grasp oil in one's right 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 Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.
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You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another.
18 Whoever tends a fig tree will eat its fruit, and he who guards his 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 in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man.
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Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart.
20 Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, and never satisfied are the eyes of man.
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Hell has a voracious appetite, and lust just never quits.
21 The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and a man is tested by his praise.
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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 Crush a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain, yet his folly will not depart from him.
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Pound on a fool all you like - you can't pound out foolishness.
23 Know well the condition of your flocks, and give attention to your herds,
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Know your sheep by name; carefully attend to your flocks;
24 for riches do not last forever; and does a crown endure to all generations?
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(Don't take them for granted; possessions don't last forever, you know.)
25 When the grass is gone and the new growth appears and the vegetation of the mountains is gathered,
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And then, when the crops are in and the harvest is stored in the barns,
26 the lambs will provide your clothing, and the goats the price of a field.
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You can knit sweaters from lambs' wool, and sell your goats for a profit;
27 There will be enough goats' milk for your food, for the food of your household and maintenance for your girls.
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There will be plenty of milk and meat to last your family through the winter.
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.