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.