Proverbs

CHAPTER 27

for you do not know what any day may bring forth.

a stranger, not your own lips.

but a fool’s provocation is heavier than both.^a

but before jealousy who can stand?^*

than a love that remains hidden.

dangerous, the kisses of an enemy.^*

but to the hungry, any bitter thing is sweet.

so is anyone far from home.^*

but by grief the soul is torn asunder.

do not resort to the house of your kindred when trouble strikes.

Better a neighbor near than kin far away.^*

so that I can answer whoever taunts me.^*

the naive continue on and pay the penalty.^b

if for a foreign woman, exact the pledge!^*

a curse can be laid to their charge.

the match is a quarrelsome wife;^d

and cannot tell north from south.

one person sharpens another.^*

so those attentive to their master will be honored.

so the heart reflects the person.

so the eyes of mortals can never be satisfied.^*

so you must assay the praise you receive.

their folly never leaves them.

give careful attention to your herds;

nor even a crown from age to age.

and the mountain greens are gathered in,

and the goats, the price of a field,

food for your house, sustenance for your maidens.

* [27:4] Anger generally subsides with time but jealousy coolly calculates and plots revenge.

* [27:5–6] Verses 5 and 6 are concerned with true friendship. “Better than” sayings often declare one thing superior to another in view of some value, e.g., 15:17, vegetables are better than meat in view of a milieu of love. In v. 5, a rebuke is better than an act of affection in view of discipline that imparts wisdom.

* [27:6] The present translation is conjectural. The meaning seems to be that a friend’s rebuke can be life-giving and an enemy’s kiss can be deadly (like the kiss of Judas in Mt 26:48).

* [27:8] The bird symbolizes vulnerability as it flees before danger as in Is 10:14; 16:2; and Ps 11:1. For the importance of place in human life, see Jb 20:8–9. People are defined by their place, but, tragically, war, poverty, or illness can force them from it.

* [27:10] The adage is about the difference between friends and kin in a crisis. Two admonitions are grounded in one maxim (colon C). The same Hebrew word means both “one who is near” and “friend.” The whole proverb urges the reader to cultivate old family friends and neighbors and not to rely exclusively on kin in times of trouble, for kin may not be there for us.

* [27:11] A father’s command to a son to be wise, another way of saying that sons or daughters bring joy or shame to their parents.

* [27:13] See note on 20:16.

* [27:14] One interpretation takes the proverb as humorous and the other takes it as serious: (1) an overly loud and ill-timed greeting (lit., “blessing”) invites the response of a curse rather than a “blessing” (greeting); (2) the loud voice suggests hypocrisy in the greeting.

* [27:17] Iron sharpens the “face” (panim = surface, edge) of iron, and a human being sharpens the “face” (panim = face, words) of another. Human beings learn from each other and grow in wisdom by conversing.

* [27:20] Sheol, the underworld abode of the dead, is personified as a force that is never satisfied and always desires more. Cf. Is 5:14 and Hos 13:14. The saying is applicable to modern consumerism.

* [27:23–27] A little treatise on farming in the form of admonitions. It proposes the advantages of field and flock over other forms of wealth. Herds are the most productive wealth, for their value does not diminish; they are a source of money, clothing, and food. The thought is conservative and traditional but the development is vivid and concrete.

a. [27:3] Sir 22:14–15.

b. [27:12] Prv 22:3.

c. [27:13] Prv 20:16.

d. [27:15] Prv 21:9; 25:24.

e. [27:20] Prv 30:16; Eccl 4:8.