New Living Translation NLT
Young's Literal Translation YLT
1 Don’t brag about tomorrow, since you don’t know what the day will bring.
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Boast not thyself of to-morrow, For thou knowest not what a day bringeth forth.
2 Let someone else praise you, not your own mouth— a stranger, not your own lips.
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Let another praise thee, and not thine own mouth, A stranger, and not thine own lips.
3 A stone is heavy and sand is weighty, but the resentment caused by a fool is even heavier.
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A stone [is] heavy, and the sand [is] heavy, And the anger of a fool Is heavier than they both.
4 Anger is cruel, and wrath is like a flood, but jealousy is even more dangerous.
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Fury [is] fierce, and anger [is] overflowing, And who standeth before jealousy?
5 An open rebuke is better than hidden love!
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Better [is] open reproof than hidden love.
6 Wounds from a sincere friend are better than many kisses from an enemy.
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Faithful are the wounds of a lover, And abundant the kisses of an enemy.
7 A person who is full refuses honey, but even bitter food tastes sweet to the hungry.
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A satiated soul treadeth down a honeycomb, And [to] a hungry soul every bitter thing [is] sweet.
8 A person who strays from home is like a bird that strays from its nest.
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As a bird wandering from her nest, So [is] a man wandering from his place.
9 The heartfelt counsel of a friend is as sweet as perfume and incense.
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Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart, And the sweetness of one's friend -- from counsel of 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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Thine own friend, and the friend of thy father, forsake not, And the house of thy brother enter not In a day of thy calamity, Better [is] a near neighbour than a brother afar off.
11 Be wise, my child, and make my heart glad. Then I will be able to answer my critics.
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Be wise, my son, and rejoice my heart. And I return my reproacher a word.
12 A prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.
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The prudent hath seen the evil, he is hidden, The simple have passed on, they are punished.
13 Get security from someone who guarantees a stranger’s debt. Get a deposit if he does it for foreigners.
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Take his garment, when a stranger hath been surety, And for a strange woman pledge it.
14 A loud and cheerful greeting early in the morning will be taken as a curse!
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Whoso is saluting his friend with a loud voice, In the morning rising early, A light thing it is reckoned to him.
15 A quarrelsome wife is as annoying as constant dripping on a rainy day.
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A continual dropping in a day of rain, And a woman of contentions are alike,
16 Stopping her complaints is like trying to stop the wind or trying to hold something with greased hands.
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Whoso is hiding her hath hidden the wind, And the ointment of his right hand calleth out.
17 As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.
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Iron by iron is sharpened, And a man sharpens the face of his friend.
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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The keeper of a fig-tree eateth its fruit, And the preserver of his master is honoured.
19 As a face is reflected in water, so the heart reflects the real person.
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As [in] water the face [is] to face, So the heart of man to man.
20 Just as Death and Destruction are never satisfied, so human desire is never satisfied.
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Sheol and destruction are not satisfied, And the eyes of man are not satisfied.
21 Fire tests the purity of silver and gold, but a person is tested by being praised.
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A refining pot [is] for silver, and a furnace for gold, And a man according to his praise.
22 You cannot separate fools from their foolishness, even though you grind them like grain with mortar and pestle.
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If thou dost beat the foolish in a mortar, Among washed things -- with a pestle, His folly turneth not aside from off him.
23 Know the state of your flocks, and put your heart into caring for your herds,
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Know well the face of thy flock, Set thy heart to the droves,
24 for riches don’t last forever, and the crown might not be passed to the next generation.
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For riches [are] not to the age, Nor a crown to generation and generation.
25 After the hay is harvested and the new crop appears and the mountain grasses are gathered in,
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Revealed was the hay, and seen the tender grass, And gathered the herbs of mountains.
26 your sheep will provide wool for clothing, and your goats will provide the price of a field.
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Lambs [are] for thy clothing, And the price of the field [are] he-goats,
27 And you will have enough goats’ milk for yourself, your family, and your servant girls.
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And a sufficiency of goats' milk [is] for thy bread, For bread to thy house, and life to thy damsels!