BOOK 20 OF 66 · WISDOM & POETRY · KING JAMES BIBLE

Proverbs 27

Proverbs book home•Chapter 27 of 31•27 verses

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Proverbs 27 Overview

The sayings warn against boasting about tomorrow and self-praise, value faithful wounds from a friend, compare iron sharpening iron, and close with careful attention to flocks and changing resources.

ProverbsBook

27Chapter

27Verses

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Before you read Proverbs 27

Coming from

Proverbs 26 emphasized fools, sluggards, meddlers, and destructive gossip. Because many proverbs are individual sayings rather than a continuous argument, the chapter-to-chapter connection is thematic rather than narrative.

In this chapter

The sayings warn against boasting about tomorrow and self-praise, value faithful wounds from a friend, compare iron sharpening iron, and close with careful attention to flocks and changing resources.

Leads into

Proverbs 28 turns to integrity under law, confession, generosity, and righteous leadership, expanding wisdom into another set of choices, contrasts, and observations.

Key understandingExplore deeper

“Iron sharpeneth iron” describes the effect people can have on one another; the verse itself does not automatically make every friendship spiritually beneficial. Proverbs uses compact wisdom sayings to train judgment. Its normal patterns describe how God’s moral order ordinarily works; they are not mechanical guarantees that remove human freedom, suffering, or providence.

Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper

Central truth

Friendship, honest correction, diligence, and stewardship.

Wisdom truth

In Proverbs 27, wisdom is moral skill under the fear of the LORD, not merely intelligence or practical cleverness.

Relationships truth

In Proverbs 27, wise relationships require truth, restraint, loyalty, correction, and discernment rather than mere friendliness.

Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper

James 4:13-15

The warning against boasting of tomorrow matches James’s command to remember the Lord’s will in future plans.

Wisdom connection

James 1:5 says those who lack wisdom should ask God, who gives generously. This connection helps frame Proverbs 27.

Relationships connection

Galatians 6:1-2 joins restoration, gentleness, and bearing one another’s burdens. This connection helps frame Proverbs 27.

What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper

Keep wisdom in context

Do not read Proverbs 27 as a set of magic formulas. Proverbs trains wise judgment in the ordinary moral order God established.

Keep relationships in context

Wise loyalty in Proverbs 27 does not require enabling sin, remaining in danger, or refusing necessary boundaries.

Read Proverbs 27 watching for…

boast not tomorrow.

another praise thee.

faithful wounds.

iron sharpens iron.

know flocks.

Chapter outline4 sections

1-6Do not boast of tomorrow; faithful wounds from a friend are better than deceitful praise 7-13Desire changes with condition; friendship, prudence, surety, and loud blessing require wisdom 14-20Contention, sharpening friendship, faithful service, the heart, and insatiable desire 21-27Praise tests character; folly is hard to remove, so know the condition of the flock and provide diligently

Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.

Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips.

A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; but a fool's wrath is heavier than them both.

Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?

Open rebuke is better than secret love.

Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

The full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.

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

Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so doth the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel.

Thine own friend, and thy father's friend, forsake not; neither go into thy brother's house in the day of thy calamity: for better is a neighbour that is near than a brother far off.

My son, be wise, and make my heart glad, that I may answer him that reproacheth me.

A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished.

Take his garment that is surety for a stranger, and take a pledge of him for a strange woman.

He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse to him.

A continual dropping in a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike.

Whosoever hideth her hideth the wind, and the ointment of his right hand, which bewrayeth itself.

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

Whoso keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof: so he that waiteth on his master shall be honoured.

As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man.

Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.

As the fining pot for silver, and the furnace for gold; so is a man to his praise.

Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him.

Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds.

For riches are not for ever: and doth the crown endure to every generation?

The hay appeareth, and the tender grass sheweth itself, and herbs of the mountains are gathered.

The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are the price of the field.

And thou shalt have goats' milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household, and for the maintenance for thy maidens.

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Proverbs 27:24

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