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 thy selfe of to morowe: for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. 2 Let another man prayse thee, and not thine owne mouth: a stranger, and not thine owne lips. 3 A stone is heauie, and the sand weightie: but a fooles wrath is heauier then them both. 4 Anger is cruell, and wrath is raging: but who can stand before enuie? 5 Open rebuke is better then secret loue. 6 The wounds of a louer are faithful, and the kisses of an enemie are pleasant. 7 The person that is full, despiseth an hony combe: but vnto the hungry soule euery bitter thing is sweete. 8 As a bird that wandreth from her nest, so is a man that wandreth from his owne place. 9 As oyntment and perfume reioyce the heart, so doeth the sweetenes of a mans friend by hearty counsell. 10 Thine owne friend and thy fathers friend forsake thou not: neither enter into thy brothers house in the day of thy calamitie: for better is a neighbour that is neere, then a brother farre off. 11 My sonne, be wise, and reioyce mine heart, that I may answere him that reprocheth me. 12 A prudent man seeth the plague, and hideth himselfe: but the foolish goe on still, and are punished. 13 Take his garment that is surety for a stranger, and a pledge of him for the stranger. 14 He that prayseth his friend with a loude voyce, rising earely in the morning, it shall be counted to him as a curse. 15 A continual dropping in the day of raine, and a contentious woman are alike. 16 He that hideth her, hideth the winde, and she is as ye oyle in his right hand, that vttereth it selfe. 17 Yron sharpeneth yron, so doeth man sharpen the face of his friend. 18 He that keepeth the fig tree, shall eate the fruite thereof: so he that waiteth vpon his master, shall come to honour. 19 As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man. 20 The graue and destruction can neuer be full, so the eyes of man can neuer be satisfied. 21 As is the fining pot for siluer and the fornace for golde, so is euery man according to his dignitie. 22 Though thou shouldest bray a foole in a morter among wheate brayed with a pestell, yet will not his foolishnes depart from him. 23 Be diligent to know ye state of thy flocke, and take heede to the heardes. 24 For riches remaine not alway, nor the crowne from generation to generation. 25 The hey discouereth it selfe, and the grasse appeareth, and the herbes of the mountaines are gathered. 26 The lambes are for thy clothing, and the goates are the price of the fielde. 27 And let the milke of the goates be sufficient for thy foode, for the foode of thy familie, and for the sustenance of thy maydes.

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