Proverbs 27:8-18

8 Like ¹a bird that strays from its nest is a man who strays from his home.

9 ²Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel.^[a]

10 Do not forsake your friend and ³your father's friend, and do not go to your brother's house in the day of your calamity. ⁴Better is a neighbor who is near than a brother who is far away.

11 ⁵Be wise, ⁶my son, and ⁷make my heart glad, that I may ⁸answer him who reproaches me.

12 ⁹The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but ¹⁰the simple go on and suffer for it.

13 ¹¹Take 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.^[b]

14 Whoever blesses his neighbor with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, will be counted as cursing.

15 ¹²A continual dripping on a rainy day and a quarrelsome wife are alike;

16 to restrain her is to restrain the wind or to grasp^[c] oil in one's right hand.

17 Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.^[d]

18 ¹³Whoever tends a fig tree will eat its fruit, and he who ¹⁴guards his master will be honored.

Proverbs 27:8-18 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 14

This chapter relates the sickness of Jeroboam's son, the application of his wife, at his instance, to the prophet Ahijah, in the child's favour, 1Ki 14:1-6, the prophecy of the prophet concerning the ruin of Jeroboam's house, and the death of the child, which came to pass, 1Ki 14:7-18, an account of the years of Jeroboam's reign, and also of Rehoboam's, 1Ki 14:19-21, and of the evil things done and suffered by the latter in his kingdom, and the calamities that came upon him for it, 1Ki 14:22-28 and the conclusion of his reign, 1Ki 14:29-31.

Cross References

• 1. Proverbs 26:2
• 2. [Psalms 23:5]
• 3. See 1 Kings 12:6-8; 2 Chronicles 10:6-8
• 4. See Proverbs 17:17
• 5. Proverbs 6:6
• 6. Proverbs 10:1; Proverbs 23:15, 24
• 7. See Proverbs 29:3
• 8. Psalms 119:42; [Psalms 127:5]
• 9. Proverbs 22:3
• 10. See Proverbs 1:4
• 11. See Proverbs 20:16
• 12. Proverbs 19:13
• 13. Song of Songs 8:12; 1 Corinthians 3:8; 1 Corinthians 9:7; 2 Timothy 2:6
• 14. [Matthew 25:21]

Footnotes

• [a]. Or and so does the sweetness of a friend that comes from his earnest counsel
• [b]. Hebrew a foreign woman; a slight emendation yields (compare Vulgate; see also 20:16) foreigners
• [c]. Hebrew to meet with
• [d]. Hebrew sharpens the face of another