Proverbs 27:11-17

Proverbs 27:11-17English Standard Version
​11 Be wise, my son, and make my heart glad,
    that I may answer him who reproaches me.
12 The prudent sees danger and hides himself,
    but the simple go on and suffer for it.
13 Take a man's garment when he has put up security for a stranger,
    and hold it in pledge when he puts up security for an adulteress.
14 Whoever blesses his neighbor with a loud voice,
    rising early in the morning,
    will be counted as cursing.
15 A continual dripping on a rainy day
    and a quarrelsome wife are alike;
16 to restrain her is to restrain the wind
    or to grasp oil in one's right hand.
17 Iron sharpens iron,
    and one man sharpens another.

---

Solomon speak directly to his son here and once again tells him to make his father's heart glad by learning wisdom--specifically to realize there is no need to answer one who disrespects his father.  Sometimes a son feels it necessary to fight for his father's honor, but Solomon needed to teach his son that his honor was an issue of his position before the LORD and not of the opinion of men.

If you are wise enough to see the danger coming, then you should be wise enough to avoid the danger instead of going headlong into it.  It should be the simple-minded man who doesn't see the danger (and judgment) coming that should be caught up in it.

Typically, the LORD told the Israelites not to take a man's garment as security for a loan.  If all he has to offer in security is his cloak, which is also his bedding to keep him warm at night, then he has no business borrowing money, because he can't pay it back.  In such instances, charity is the better option--to help the brother in need without expecting repayment.  However, Solomon speaks here about if you know that the person asking for the loan intends to use it for evil and wickedness.  Do not afford them the same protections that the Law gave to fellow brothers.  Solomon says to take their cloak as pledge if they are borrowing money for someone else who is not of the house of Israel, because those protections wouldn't have applied to the alien if they had conducted business for themselves, but they are trying to use a fellow Israelite to get a no-interest loan with better terms and conditions, and to take the cloak as security as well if the man is trying to borrow money to pay an adulteress (think about a man who is a John for a prostitute asking his neighbor to pay the prostitute for him and he'll pay the neighbor back later).  Don't get involved in such schemes is really what Solomon is trying to say here.  The first person is a frontman hiding the identity of the one you are truly doing business with.  The second is doing immoral and likely illegal business.  Don't have anything to do with such "friends" who ask you for loans.

If your blessings are loud and obnoxious to your neighbors, they will be considered curses.  Yes, you want to bless people publicly, but don't make such a spectacle of it that you wake everyone up at dawn with your loud announcements of how great your neighbors are.

Now for a couple of the best-known verses from the book of Proverbs.  First, Solomon says that a nagging wife is comparable to the constant dripping of water.  However, you are not going to be able to restrain her from doing what is natural to here. Trying to do so is like trying to hold back the wind or like trying to hold olive oil in your hand (it will just come out through the smallest opening because that is its nature).  You are fighting a losing battle.  Instead, carefully consider the nature of the person you are courting before marrying them.

Last, but not least, another famous verse, men need other men of equal or better strength of character to sharpen them in what we would call discipleship.  A duller man will not sharpen you but will dull you (maybe you will sharpen him), so you need to be sharpening others, but also you need to be sharpened.  The best situation is metals of equal strength (hardness) sharpen each other.  That is why the comparison of iron sharpening iron is given.  Look for who you can sharpen and who can sharpen you and have the objective of finding those who can disciple you and those you can be discipling (if you are a very young Christian, focus on being discipled first so that you do not lead someone in error, though you may have lots of passion.  Study the Word first and know what it says so that you can teach and apply the Word of God correctly).