¹ Do not boast about tomorrow,
for you do not know what a day may bring.

² Let someone else praise you, and not your own mouth;
an outsider, and not your own lips.

³ Stone is heavy and sand a burden,
but a fool’s provocation is heavier than both.

⁴ Anger is cruel and fury overwhelming,
but who can stand before jealousy?

⁵ Better is open rebuke
than hidden love.

⁶ Wounds from a friend can be trusted,
but an enemy multiplies kisses.

⁷ One who is full loathes honey from the comb,
but to the hungry even what is bitter tastes sweet.

⁸ Like a bird that flees its nest
is anyone who flees from home.

⁹ Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart,
and the pleasantness of a friend
springs from their heartfelt advice.

¹⁰ Do not forsake your friend or a friend of your family,
and do not go to your relative’s house when disaster strikes you—

better a neighbor nearby than a relative far away.

¹¹ Be wise, my son, and bring joy to my heart;
then I can answer anyone who treats me with contempt.

¹² The prudent see danger and take refuge,
but the simple keep going and pay the penalty.

¹³ Take the garment of one who puts up security for a stranger;
hold it in pledge if it is done for an outsider.

¹⁴ If anyone loudly blesses their neighbor early in the morning,
it will be taken as a curse.

¹⁵ A quarrelsome wife is like the dripping
of a leaky roof in a rainstorm;
¹⁶ restraining her is like restraining the wind
or grasping oil with the hand.

¹⁷ As iron sharpens iron,
so one person sharpens another.

¹⁸ The one who guards a fig tree will eat its fruit,
and whoever protects their master will be honored.

¹⁹ As water reflects the face,
so one’s life reflects the heart.

²⁰ Death and Destruction are never satisfied,
and neither are human eyes.

²¹ The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold,
but people are tested by their praise.