New Living Translation NLT
The Message Bible MSG
1 Don’t brag about tomorrow, since you don’t know what the day will bring.
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Don't brashly announce what you're going to do tomorrow; you don't know the first thing about tomorrow.
2 Let someone else praise you, not your own mouth— a stranger, 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 the resentment caused by a fool is even heavier.
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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 Anger is cruel, and wrath is like a flood, but jealousy is even more dangerous.
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We're blasted by anger and swamped by rage, but who can survive jealousy?
5 An open rebuke is better than hidden love!
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A spoken reprimand is better than approval that's never expressed.
6 Wounds from a sincere friend are better than many kisses from an enemy.
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The wounds from a lover are worth it; kisses from an enemy do you in.
7 A person who is full refuses honey, but even bitter food tastes sweet to the hungry.
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When you've stuffed yourself, you refuse dessert; when you're starved, you could eat a horse.
8 A person who strays from home is like a bird that strays from its nest.
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People who won't settle down, wandering hither and yon, are like restless birds, flitting to and fro.
9 The heartfelt counsel of a friend is as sweet as perfume and incense.
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Just as lotions and fragrance give sensual delight, a sweet friendship refreshes the soul.
10 Never abandon a friend— either yours or your father’s. When disaster strikes, you won’t have to ask your brother for assistance. It’s better to go to a neighbor than to a brother who lives 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. Then I will be able to answer my critics.
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Become wise, dear child, and make me happy; then nothing the world throws my way will upset me.
12 A prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.
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A prudent person sees trouble coming and ducks; a simpleton walks in blindly and is clobbered.
13 Get security from someone who guarantees a stranger’s debt. Get a deposit if he does it for foreigners.
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Hold tight to collateral on any loan to a stranger; be wary of accepting what a transient has pawned.
14 A loud and cheerful greeting early in the morning will be taken 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 A quarrelsome wife is as annoying as constant dripping on a rainy day.
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A nagging spouse is like the drip, drip, drip of a leaky faucet;
16 Stopping her complaints is like trying to stop the wind or trying to hold something with greased hands.
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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 a friend sharpens a friend.
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You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another.
18 As workers who tend a fig tree are allowed to eat the fruit, so workers who protect their employer’s interests will be rewarded.
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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 a face is reflected in water, so the heart reflects the real person.
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Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart.
20 Just as Death and Destruction are never satisfied, so human desire is never satisfied.
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Hell has a voracious appetite, and lust just never quits.
21 Fire tests the purity of silver and gold, but a person is tested by being praised.
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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 You cannot separate fools from their foolishness, even though you grind them like grain with mortar and pestle.
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Pound on a fool all you like - you can't pound out foolishness.
23 Know the state of your flocks, and put your heart into caring for your herds,
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Know your sheep by name; carefully attend to your flocks;
24 for riches don’t last forever, and the crown might not be passed to the next generation.
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(Don't take them for granted; possessions don't last forever, you know.)
25 After the hay is harvested and the new crop appears and the mountain grasses are gathered in,
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And then, when the crops are in and the harvest is stored in the barns,
26 your sheep will provide wool for clothing, and your goats will provide the price of a field.
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You can knit sweaters from lambs' wool, and sell your goats for a profit;
27 And you will have enough goats’ milk for yourself, your family, and your servant girls.
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There will be plenty of milk and meat to last your family through the winter.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
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.