¹Do not boast about tomorrow,

For you do not know what the day will bring.

²Let an outsider praise you,

And not your own mouth

– A foreigner,

And not your own lips.

³There is the weight of a stone

And the burden of sand,

But a fool's anger is more burdensome than either of them.

⁴There are cruelty and fury,

And the eruption of anger,

But who can stand

In the face of envy?

⁵Open reproof is better

Than secret love.

⁶Wounds from a friend

Are bearable,

But the kisses of one who hates

Are glib.

⁷One with a satisfied appetite will trample a honeycomb under foot,

But to one with a ravenous appetite,

Even anything bitter is sweet.

⁸As a bird which flies away from its nest,

So is a man who migrates from his place.

⁹Oil and incense please the heart,

As does a friend's generosity

With vitally important advice.

¹⁰Do not forsake your own friend,

Or a friend of your father,

And do not enter your brother's house in the event of your downfall.

A nearby neighbour

Is better than a distant brother.

¹¹My son, become wise and please my heart

So that I can answer him who reproaches me.

¹²A prudent man sees evil and hides,

But the gullible cross over to it

And pay the penalty.

¹³“Take his clothing,

For he became security to a stranger,

And bind him up,

For pledging to a foreign lady.”

¹⁴As for him who rises early in the morning

And blesses his neighbour with a loud voice,

It will be considered a curse to him.

¹⁵The steady dripping on a day of persistent rain

Is what a contentious wife is comparable to.

¹⁶He who would restrain her

Might as well restrain the wind,

And call for ointment to soothe his right hand.

¹⁷Iron is sharpened by iron,

And a man sharpens the intellect of his neighbour.

¹⁸He who keeps a fig tree

Will eat of its fruit,

And he who heeds his master

Will be honoured.

¹⁹Just as water reflects a face back to a face,

So a man's heart reflects the man.

²⁰The grave and destruction are never satisfied,

And never satisfied are the eyes of man.

²¹The crucible is for silver,

And the furnace for gold,

But a man is assessed

According to how he is commended.

²²Even if you were to grind the fool in a mortar

Among the crushed grain, with a pestle,

His stupidity would not depart from him.

²³Make a point of knowing the condition of your sheep,

And pay attention to the flocks,

²⁴For riches do not endure for ever

Nor does a crown from generation to generation.

²⁵The hay is taken away,

The fresh grass appears,

And the vegetation of the mountains is gathered.

²⁶Lambs are for your clothing,

And goats pay for the price of their field,

²⁷And you will have sufficient goats' milk for your own food,

And for the food of your household

And sustenance for your maidservants.