PROVERBS A CHAPTER A DAY

Chapter 27

Comments are interleaved with text

Don’t boast about tomorrow,
for you don’t know what the day may bring.

IT’S GOOD TO SAY INSHALLAH

Let someone else praise you, not your own mouth,
a stranger and not your own lips.

YES

Stone is heavy, sand a dead weight,
but a fool’s provocation outweighs them both.

Fury is cruel and anger overwhelming,
but who can stand up to jealousy?

YES, YES

Better open rebuke
than timid affection.

THAT IS, AFFECTION THAT IS TOO TIMID TO REBUKE A FRIEND

Wounds from a friend are well-meant,
but an enemy’s kisses are insincere.

A person who is full turns down a honeycomb;
but to the hungry, any bitter thing is sweet.

THIS HAS WIDER APPLICATIONS

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

THIS IGNORES THE FACT BIRDS MUST AND DO STRAY FROM THE NEST WHEN THEY CEASE TO BE CHICKS

Don’t abandon a friend
or a friend of your father.

LOYALTY SHOULD CROSS THE GENERATIONS

Don’t enter your brother’s house on the day of your calamity —
better a neighbor nearby than a brother far away.

WHY IS THE BROTHER FAR AWAY?

Oil and incense gladden the heart

And friendship is sweet with sincere advice.

YES

My son, become wise, and gladden my heart,
so that I can answer my critics.

THE PARENT OR SAGE ANSWERS CRITICS BY POINTING TO THEIR ‘OFFSPRING.’

The clever see trouble coming and hide;
the thoughtless go on and pay the penalty.

BEEN THERE

Seize his clothes because he guaranteed a stranger’s loan;
Hold him as security for that unknown person.

Whoever greets his neighbor in a loud voice at dawn
might just as well have cursed him.

I’M A MORNING PERSON OFTEN SUBJECTED TO CURSES

A leak that keeps dripping on a rainy day
and the nagging of a wife are the same —
whoever can restrain her can restrain the wind
or keep perfume on his hand from making itself known.

THE NAGGING WIFE GETS IT AGAIN, BUT THIS TIME THE PERFUME ON THE MAN’S HAND MAY SUGGEST THAT SHE HAS REASON TO NAG

Just as iron sharpens iron,
a person sharpens the character of his friend.

OR SOFTENS IT

Whoever tends the fig tree will eat its fruit,
and he who is attentive to his master will be honored.

TREAT YOUR BOSS LIKE A FRUIT TREE!

Just as water reflects the face,
so one human heart reflects another.

YES

Death and the grave are insatiable,
and human eyes are never satisfied.

THIS IS ABOUT HUMAN CURIOSITY

The crucible tests silver, and the furnace tests gold,
but a person is tested by praise.

AH, YES

You can crush a fool in a mortar with a pestle,
along with the grain being crushed;
yet his foolishness will not leave him.

TEST OUT ALL MATERIAL ABOUT FOOLS WITH REFERENCE TO D. TRUMP

Take care to know the condition of your flocks,
and pay attention to your herds.
For wealth doesn’t last forever,
neither does a crown through all generations.
When the hay has been mown, and the new grass appears,
and the mountain greens have been gathered;
the lambs will provide your clothing,
the he -goats the price of a field,
and there will be enough goat’s milk
to buy food for you and your household
and sustenance for your servant-girls.

THE GOOD LIFE NEEDS GOOD MANAGEMENT