Proverbs 27:2
Wisdom rejects self-praise and embraces humility that allows honor to arise naturally from others.
2 Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips.
Wisdom rejects self-praise and embraces humility that allows honor to arise naturally from others.
To warn against self-exaltation and encourage humility by allowing recognition to come from others rather than oneself.
Proverbs 27:2 follows Proverbs 27:1, which warned against boasting about tomorrow because human beings do not know what a day may bring. Together, Proverbs 27:1-2 restrains prideful speech in two directions: boasting about the future and boasting about oneself. The opening of Proverbs 27 therefore humbles speech before both time and reputation. The chapter will proceed to address provocation, anger, jealousy, rebuke, friendship, counsel, household prudence, and stewardship. Verse 2 sets a vital relational foundation: wisdom does not seek to control honor through self-praise. This also connects backward to Proverbs 26:28, where flattering speech works ruin. Proverbs 27:2 opposes both self-flattery and self-manufactured praise.
In ancient Israel, honor and reputation mattered deeply in households, clans, city gates, courts, and royal settings. Praise could establish credibility, trust, and social standing. Yet wisdom warned that self-praise was unfitting because it revealed pride and distorted judgment. Proverbs 27:2 teaches that praise is safer and more fitting when it comes from another person rather than from one’s own lips.
Faithful Friendship, Honest Rebuke, Guarded Praise, Wise Stewardship, and the Testing of the Heart
Wisdom humbly refuses self-boasting, receives faithful rebuke, values honest friendship, guards speech and praise, sharpens others, and gives careful attention to entrusted responsibilities before tomorrow comes.