Proverbs 27:17 · Passage · Friendship
Iron Sharpens Iron
Proverbs 27 compares one friend's effect on another to iron grinding an edge on iron.
Proverbs ranks the wound a friend gives above the kiss an enemy gives, and Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss.
As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.
- The passage
- Proverbs 27:17, Proverbs 27:5 to 6, Proverbs 27:9, Ecclesiastes 4:9 to 12
- Books
- Proverbs, Ecclesiastes
- Hold in memory
- Proverbs 27:17, Proverbs 27:6
Summary
Proverbs 27 teaches that a friend's honest word does good to the one who hears it. The friend sharpens by counsel that is sweet to the soul and by rebuke given in the open, and the proverb prefers that rebuke to a love that stays silent. Ecclesiastes adds the companion who lifts the one who falls.
- Under the Berean's "one man sharpens another", the Hebrew of Proverbs 27:17 names the friend's face as what is made sharp.
- Proverbs 27:6 calls the friend whose wounds are faithful 'ohev, one who loves.
- Proverbs 13:20 and Proverbs 22:24 to 25 tie a man's wisdom or his ruin to the company he keeps.
Iron on Iron
The saying stands among the proverbs of Solomon copied in the days of Hezekiah.
Iron Sharpens Iron studies what Proverbs 27 says about the friend who makes another better by counsel and by rebuke. It belongs to the value of friendship, because these sayings name what a true friend gives besides company: a sharper mind, a faithful wound and sweet counsel.
The question it answers is how one friend sharpens another and why a friend's wounds are faithful. It reads Proverbs 27:5 to 6, Proverbs 27:9 and Proverbs 27:17 through their Hebrew, sets Ecclesiastes 4 and the sayings on companions beside them, and gives two readings of how rebuke and covering agree.
The Hebrew of Proverbs 27:17 reads ve-'ish yachad penei re'ehu, "and a man sharpens the face of his friend". The verb yachad, to sharpen, stands in both halves of the line, and the Berean renders the second half "so one man sharpens another" (Proverbs 27:17).
The noun penei is a form of panim, the face, whose uses through Scripture are traced in The Face.
Albert Barnes, in his Notes, Explanatory and Practical (1832 to 1869), read the saying of mutual counsel: "Two minds, thus acting on each other, become more acute."
He set aside a second reading, that the sharpening is provoking and that "the quarrels of those who have been friends are bitter in proportion to their previous intimacy".
What a Friend's Counsel Does
Proverbs 27 supplies three of the sayings, and the other three come from Proverbs 13, Proverbs 22 and Ecclesiastes 4.
A friend rebukes, wounds, counsels and lifts, and a companion makes a man wise or teaches him his ways.
| Verse | The Berean words | What the friend or companion does |
|---|---|---|
| Proverbs 27:5 | Better an open rebuke than love that is concealed. | Rebukes in the open |
| Proverbs 27:6 | The wounds of a friend are faithful, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. | Wounds faithfully |
| Proverbs 27:9 | Oil and incense bring joy to the heart, and the sweetness of a friend is counsel to the soul. | Gives counsel |
| Ecclesiastes 4:9 to 10 | Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor. For if one falls down, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to help him up! | Lifts the one who falls |
| Proverbs 13:20 | He who walks with the wise will become wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed. | Makes his companion wise, or leads him to ruin |
| Proverbs 22:24 to 25 | Do not make friends with an angry man, and do not associate with a hot-tempered man, or you may learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare. | Teaches his ways to the one who walks with him |
The Faithful Wound
Proverbs 27:6 gives the friend a name of love and a Hebrew word of trust for his wounds.
The phrase pitz'ei 'ohev in Proverbs 27:6 means the wounds of one who loves.
The word the Berean renders "faithful" is ne'emanim, a form of the verb 'aman (H539), meaning reliable.
Going directly to Jesus, he said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed Him. “Friend,” Jesus replied, “do what you came for.” Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus, and arrested Him.The verses stand here because the betrayer's greeting is the deceitful kiss of Proverbs 27:6 at work in the Gospel.
Jesus's word "Friend" is the Greek hetairos, which Matthew uses three times, each time to a man in the wrong. The Hebrew and Greek words for a friend are taught in The Words Rea and Philos.
Counsel That Sweetens
Two neighbouring sayings speak of a friend's counsel and of the family friend.
The friend of Proverbs 27:9 is rea, a Hebrew word most often glossed neighbour, which the Berean renders "friend" in this verse.
Proverbs 27:10, on the friend of the family who is never to be forsaken, is taught in A Friend Loves at All Times.
Two Are Better Than One
Ecclesiastes 4:9 to 12 gives the Preacher's reasons for company in work, in a fall, in the cold and in an attack.
In Ecclesiastes 4:10 the companion is chaver, and the Hebrew yakim 'et-chavero means "he will raise his companion".
Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; but how can one keep warm alone? And though one may be overpowered, two can resist. Moreover, a cord of three strands is not quickly broken.The verses stand here because they carry the gain of company from labour into rest and defence.
The noun chaver has twelve uses in eleven verses in the STEP tagging. One is Psalm 119:63, where the psalmist says, "I am a friend to all who fear You, and to those who keep Your precepts" (Psalm 119:63).
The Company You Keep
Two sayings use one Hebrew verb for keeping company and warn where it leads.
In Proverbs 13:20 the companion of fools is ro'eh khesilim, one who keeps company with fools. In Proverbs 22:24 the warning is 'al-titra', do not make a friend.
The STEP lexicon files this verb under ra'ah, to tend a flock, with a separate sense "to befriend". The sense of each use is read from its own verse.
Proverbs 13:20 closes with yero'a, which the Berean renders "will be destroyed" (Proverbs 13:20), from ra'a, to break (H7489).
Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good character.”Paul gives the church at Corinth the same warning about companions that Proverbs gives the son.
Voices on Rebuke
Ambrose and Augustine each applied Proverbs 27:6 to the duty of correcting a friend.
died 397 · Ambrose of Milan
Ambrose of Milan stands here because he taught the clergy of Milan what a friend owes a friend who goes wrong.
Read the page on Ambrose of Milan
“Rebukes are good, and often better than a silent friendship. Even if a friend thinks himself hurt, still rebuke him; and if the bitterness of the correction wounds his mind, still rebuke him and fear not. ‘The wounds of a friend are better than the kisses of flatterers.’ Rebuke, then, your erring friend; forsake not an innocent one. For friendship ought to be steadfast and to rest firm in true affection.”
Ambrose of Milan · On the Duties of the Clergy 3.22.127 · on Proverbs 27:6Patristic
died 430 · Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo stands here because he drew from Proverbs 27:6 a test for telling a friend from an enemy.
Read the page on Augustine of Hippo
“Not everyone who spares is a friend, nor is everyone who strikes an enemy. ‘Better are the wounds of a friend than the proffered kisses of an enemy.’ Love mingled with severity is better than deceit with indulgence.”
Augustine of Hippo · LETTER 93 · on Proverbs 27:6Patristic
Cover a Fault or Rebuke It?
Basil of Caesarea and John Gill each gave a case in which one of the two sayings governs.
The question is whether a friend should bring a fault into the open, as Proverbs 27:5 says, or cover it, as Proverbs 17:9 says.
Rebuke the hidden sinBasil of Caesarea
Basil of Caesarea, in The Long Rules (question 46), applied Proverbs 27:5 to a brother's sin: "Let no one, therefore, conceal a sin in behalf of another, lest fratricide take the place of fraternal charity."
The objection: the saying on covering an offence is taught in A Friend Loves at All Times, and it praises the one who keeps a fault quiet.
Cover the offence once forgivenJohn Gill
John Gill read Proverbs 17:9 of an offence already settled between friends, "the matter being made up, and the offence forgiven".
The objection: a fault covered before it is put right leaves the friend unwarned, which is the harm Basil names.
Spur One Another On
The letter to the Hebrews asks the church to do on purpose what the proverb describes.
And let us consider how to spur one another on to love and good deeds.It turns the friend's sharpening into a duty the whole church owes its members.
The Tongue, Death and Life in Proverbs teaches Proverbs 27:6 among the sayings on speech.
Sources
Scripture is the Berean Standard Bible.
- STEP Bible, Translators Amalgamated Hebrew Old Testament, the tagged Hebrew text (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0.
- STEP Bible TBESH lexicon of Extended Strongs for Hebrew (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0.
- Translators Amalgamated Greek New Testament, STEP Bible, CC BY 4.0.
- Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832 to 1869), on Proverbs 27:17.
- John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748 to 1763), on Proverbs 17:9.
- Basil of Caesarea, The Long Rules, question 46.
- Ambrose of Milan, On the Duties of the Clergy 3.22.127.
- Augustine of Hippo, Letter 93.
Keep Studying
In this value5
People and groups9
Symbols2