Proverbs 27

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Proverbs 27 is a chapter about friendship, honesty, and the limits of what a person can control. It warns against boasting about tomorrow and praising oneself, prizes the wounds of a friend over the kisses of an enemy, and gives the book's most famous line about relationships: "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." It observes that the eye is never satisfied, that a person is tested by praise, and it closes with an unexpected lesson in farm management: know the state of your flocks, because riches do not last.

장 주석 열기

Proverbs 27 begins by taking away two things people lean on: tomorrow, which no one is entitled to boast about, and self-praise, which should be left to others. Having cleared that ground, it turns to the subject it handles better than almost any chapter in the Bible: friendship. A friend's open rebuke beats concealed love. A friend's wounds are faithful; an enemy's kisses deceive. A friend's counsel is sweet to the soul like oil and incense. Do not abandon your friend or your father's friend, and a neighbor nearby is better than a brother far away. Then the line everyone knows: as iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. The image is not gentle. Iron on iron makes sparks and takes off metal, which is what real friendship sometimes costs. The chapter also knows the heart. Water reflects a face, and the heart reflects the true person. The eyes are never satisfied, like the grave. And a person is tested not by hardship but by praise, the way silver is tested in a crucible. The closing verses surprise readers by turning to sheep and goats. Know the state of your flocks, the chapter says, because riches are not forever and a crown does not last. It is advice about attending to what actually sustains a household rather than to the wealth it might produce, and it is as current as any financial counsel written since.

핵심 본문

Proverbs 27:1-2 Proverbs 27:5-6 Proverbs 27:17-21 Proverbs 27:23-27 James 4:13-15

Historical and literary context

Chapters 25 to 29 of Proverbs are sayings of Solomon that were "copied by the men of Hezekiah king of Judah," a collection edited two centuries after Solomon, in the late eighth century BC. Chapter 27 draws its images from village life: neighbors and brothers, a bird straying from its nest, oil and incense, the dripping of a leaky roof in the rainy season, a crucible and furnace, a fig tree, and the flocks and herds that were a family's wealth. Its final verses on tending animals reflect an economy in which land and livestock outlasted silver.

How the chapter unfolds

The chapter has no rigid outline, but its sayings cluster. Verses 1 to 4 concern presumption and passions: tomorrow, self-praise, the weight of a fool, the flood of anger, the impossibility of withstanding jealousy. Verses 5 to 10 are about friendship: open rebuke, faithful wounds, the sweetness of a friend's counsel, the neighbor nearby. Verses 11 to 16 mix instruction to a son with observations on prudence, surety, ill-timed blessings, and a contentious spouse. Verses 17 to 22 hold the chapter's best-known images: iron sharpening iron, water reflecting a face, the unsatisfied eye, the furnace of praise. Verses 23 to 27 form a small poem on caring for flocks as a hedge against the impermanence of wealth.

Why this chapter matters

Proverbs 27 has given English its most quoted proverb about friendship, "iron sharpens iron," and one of its most quoted about humility, "Let another praise you, and not your own mouth." Its insistence that faithful wounds from a friend beat deceitful kisses, and that open rebuke is better than concealed love, is the Bible's case for honesty in relationships. Verse 1, on not boasting about tomorrow, is echoed by James, and verse 12 about the prudent seeing danger is one of the book's recurring lessons. The closing poem on flocks is a rare piece of practical economics in Scripture: attend to what produces, because riches are not forever.

Interpretive tension to watch

Verse 21 says a person is tested by the praise they receive, which reverses the usual assumption that hardship is the test. Does praise reveal character more sharply than suffering? The chapter's surrounding sayings about self-praise, flattery, and the unsatisfied eye suggest that Proverbs thinks so, and that the reader should be more wary of applause than of criticism.

이 장을 위한 질문

Verse 6 says the wounds of a friend are faithful. Who in your life is allowed to wound you honestly, and do you let them?
How is a person tested by praise (verse 21) in ways that suffering does not test them?
The chapter ends with advice to know the state of your flocks because riches are not forever. What are the "flocks" you should be attending to rather than the "riches" you are counting on?

Study with context

Use this as a chapter guide, then press deeper into the text itself. The goal is to slow down observation, notice structure, and ask better questions before jumping to conclusions.

노트에 추가

1 Boast not thyself of to-morrow, for thou knowest not what a day will bring forth. 2 Let another praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips. 3 A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; but a fool's vexation is heavier than them both. 4 Fury is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before jealousy? 5 Open rebuke is better than hidden love. 6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are profuse. 7 The full soul trampleth on a honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet. 8 As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a man that wandereth from his place. 9 Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart; and the sweetness of one's friend is [the fruit] of hearty counsel. 10 Thine own friend, and thy father's friend, forsake not; and go not into thy brother's house in the day of thy calamity: better is a neighbour that is near than a brother far off. 11 Be wise, my son, and make my heart glad, that I may have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me. 12 A prudent [man] seeth the evil, [and] hideth himself; the simple pass on, [and] are punished. 13 Take his garment that is become surety [for] another, and hold him in pledge for a strange woman. 14 He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, it shall be reckoned a curse to him. 15 A continual dropping on a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike: 16 whosoever will restrain her restraineth the wind, and his right hand encountereth oil. 17 Iron is sharpened by iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. 18 Whoso keepeth the fig-tree shall eat the fruit thereof; and he that guardeth his master shall be honoured. 19 As [in] water face [answereth] to face, so the heart of man to man. 20 Sheol and destruction are insatiable; so the eyes of man are never satisfied. 21 The fining-pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold; so let a man be to the mouth that praiseth him. 22 If thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his folly depart from him. 23 Be well acquainted with the appearance of thy flocks; look well to thy herds: 24 for wealth is not for ever; and doth the crown [endure] from generation to generation? 25 The hay is removed, and the tender grass sheweth itself, and herbs of the mountains are gathered in. 26 The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are the price of a field; 27 and there is goats' milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household, and sustenance for thy maidens.

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