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¹ Boast not for to morrow, for thou knowest not what the day to come may bring forth.

² Let another praise thee, and not thy own mouth: a stranger, and not thy own lips.

³ A stone is heavy, and sand weighty: but the anger of a fool is heavier than them both.⁴ Anger hath no mercy: nor fury, when it breaketh forth: and who can bear the violence of one provoked?

⁵ Open rebuke is better than hidden love.⁶ Better are the wounds of a friend, than the deceitful kisses of an enemy.

⁷ A soul that is full shall tread upon the honeycomb: and a soul that is hungry shall take even bitter for sweet.

⁸ As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a man that leaveth his place.

⁹ Ointment and perfumes rejoice the heart: and the good counsels of a friend are sweet to the soul.¹⁰ Thy own friend, and thy father’s friend, forsake not: and go not into thy brother’s house in the day of thy affliction. Better is a neighbour that is near than a brother afar off.

¹¹ Study wisdom, my son, and make my heart joyful, that thou mayst give an answer to him that reproacheth.

¹² The prudent man seeing evil hideth himself: little ones passing on have suffered losses.

¹³ Take away his garment that hath been surety for a stranger: and take from him a pledge for strangers.

¹⁴ He that blesseth his neighbour with a loud voice, rising in the night, shall be like to him that curseth.

¹⁵ Roofs dropping through in a cold day, and a contentious woman are alike.¹⁶ He that retaineth her, is as he that would hold the wind, and shall call the oil of his right hand.

¹⁷ Iron sharpeneth iron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.

¹⁸ He that keepeth the fig tree, shall eat the fruit thereof: and he that is the keeper of his master, shall be glorified.

¹⁹ As the faces of them that look therein, shine in the water, so the hearts of men are laid open to the wise.

²⁰ Hell and destruction are never filled: so the eyes of men are never satisfied.

²¹ As silver is tried in the fining-pot, and gold in the furnace: so a man is tried by the mouth of him that praiseth. The heart of the wicked seeketh after evils, but the righteous heart seeketh after knowledge.

²² Though thou shouldst bray a fool in the mortar, as when a pestle striketh upon sodden barley, his folly would not be taken from him.

²³ Be diligent to know the countenance of thy cattle, and consider thy own flocks:²⁴ For thou shalt not always have power: but a crown shall be given to generation and generation.²⁵ The meadows are open, and the green herbs have appeared, and the hay is gathered out of the mountains.²⁶ Lambs are for thy clothing: and kids for the price of the field.²⁷ Let the milk of the goats be enough for thy food, and for the necessities of thy house, and for maintenance for thy handmaids.