The Message Bible MSG
English Standard Version ESV
1 Don't brashly announce what you're going to do tomorrow; you don't know the first thing about tomorrow.
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Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.
2 Don't call attention to yourself; let others do that for you.
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Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips.
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.
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A stone is heavy, and sand is weighty, but a fool's provocation is heavier than both.
4 We're blasted by anger and swamped by rage, but who can survive jealousy?
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Wrath is cruel, anger is overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy?
5 A spoken reprimand is better than approval that's never expressed.
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Better is open rebuke than hidden love.
6 The wounds from a lover are worth it; kisses from an enemy do you in.
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Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.
7 When you've stuffed yourself, you refuse dessert; when you're starved, you could eat a horse.
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One who is full loathes honey, but to one who is hungry everything bitter is sweet.
8 People who won't settle down, wandering hither and yon, are like restless birds, flitting to and fro.
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Like a bird that strays from its nest is a man who strays from his home.
9 Just as lotions and fragrance give sensual delight, a sweet friendship refreshes the soul.
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Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel.
10 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.
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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.
11 Become wise, dear child, and make me happy; then nothing the world throws my way will upset me.
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Be wise, my son, and make my heart glad, that I may answer him who reproaches me.
12 A prudent person sees trouble coming and ducks; a simpleton walks in blindly and is clobbered.
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The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it.
13 Hold tight to collateral on any loan to a stranger; be wary of accepting what a transient has pawned.
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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.
14 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.
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Whoever blesses his neighbor with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, will be counted as cursing.
15 A nagging spouse is like the drip, drip, drip of a leaky faucet;
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A continual dripping on a rainy day and a quarrelsome wife are alike;
16 You can't turn it off, and you can't get away from it. Your Face Mirrors Your Heart
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to restrain her is to restrain the wind or to grasp oil in one's right hand.
17 You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another.
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Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.
18 If you care for your orchard, you'll enjoy its fruit; if you honor your boss, you'll be honored.
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Whoever tends a fig tree will eat its fruit, and he who guards his master will be honored.
19 Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart.
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As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man.
20 Hell has a voracious appetite, and lust just never quits.
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Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, and never satisfied are the eyes of man.
21 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.
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The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and a man is tested by his praise.
22 Pound on a fool all you like - you can't pound out foolishness.
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Crush a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain, yet his folly will not depart from him.
23 Know your sheep by name; carefully attend to your flocks;
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Know well the condition of your flocks, and give attention to your herds,
24 (Don't take them for granted; possessions don't last forever, you know.)
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for riches do not last forever; and does a crown endure to all generations?
25 And then, when the crops are in and the harvest is stored in the barns,
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When the grass is gone and the new growth appears and the vegetation of the mountains is gathered,
26 You can knit sweaters from lambs' wool, and sell your goats for a profit;
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the lambs will provide your clothing, and the goats the price of a field.
27 There will be plenty of milk and meat to last your family through the winter.
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There will be enough goats' milk for your food, for the food of your household and maintenance for your girls.
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.
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.