Do Not Boast about Tomorrow
(James 4:13–17)

1Thou shalt not boast upon the day of the morrow, for thou shalt not know what a day shall bring forth.

2A stranger shall praise thee, and not thy mouth; a stranger, and not thy lips.

3A stone is heavy and sand a burden, and the wrath of the foolish one heavy more than they two.

4Wrath is cruelty, and anger an overflowing; and who shall stand before jealousy?

5Naked rebuke is good above secret love.

6Faithful the wounds of a friend; and abundant the kisses of an enemy.

7The full soul will tread down the honey droppings, and to the hungry soul all bitter is sweet.

8As the bird wandering from her nest, so is a man wandering from his place.

9Oil and incense will rejoice the heart: and the sweetness from his friend from the counsel of the soul.

10Thy friend and thy father's friend thou shalt not forsake; and thou shalt not go to thy brother's house in the day of thy calamity: good he dwelling near, more than a brother far off.

11My son, be wise and gladden my heart, and I will turn back word to him reproaching me.

12The prudent one saw the evil, he hid himself; the simple passed and were punished.

13Take his garment pledging a stranger, and bind him by a pledge for a strange woman.

14He blessing his friend with a great voice, rising early in the morning, a curse shall be reckoned to him.

15A dropping thrust forth in the day of rain and a woman of strifes were alike.

16He hiding her, hid the wind, and he shall call the oil of his right hand.

17Iron will sharpen upon iron; and a man will sharpen the face of his friend.

18He guarding the fig tree shall eat its fruit: and he watching his lord shall be honored.

19As in water, face to face, so the heart of man to man.

20Hades and destruction shall not be satisfied; and the eyes of man shall not be satisfied.

21The crucible for silver, and the furnace for gold, and a man to the mouth praising him.

22If thou shalt pound the foolish in a mortar in the midst of the grain with a pestle, thou shalt not remove from him his folly.

23Knowing, thou shalt know the face of thy flock; set thy heart to thy herds.

24For not strength forever, and not consecration to generation and generation.

25The grass was uncovered and the young herbage was seen; and the green plants of the mountains were gathered.

26Lambs for thy clothing, and the he goats the price of the field.

27And enough of goats milk for thy bread, and for the bread of thy house, and the life of thy girls.