Bible Strands
Proverbs 27:2
Let another praise you, and not your own mouth—a stranger, and not your own lips.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The wisdom author addresses a student within a collection of practical instructions, placing this command immediately after a warning against presuming control over the future.
The words — The Hebrew זָר (zar) means a stranger, while שְׂפָתֶיךָ (se.fa.Tei.kha) denotes your own lips, establishing a deliberate contrast between external validation and self-praise.
The thread — This theme of deferred self-praise appears in Proverbs 25:27 regarding the pursuit of one’s own glory, and in 2 Corinthians 10:12 and 2 Corinthians 10:18 regarding the inadequacy of self-commendation compared to divine approval.
Why it lands — The text commands the reader to defer praise to others rather than claiming it through personal speech. It requires the adoption of humility by allowing external assessment to replace self-advocacy.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips.
Cross-references
- 2 Corinthians 10:18 For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.
- Proverbs 25:27 It is not good to eat too much honey or to search out one’s own glory.
- 2 Corinthians 10:12 We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they show their ignorance.
- 2 Corinthians 12:11 I have become a fool, but you drove me to it. In fact, you should have commended me, since I am in no way inferior to those “super-apostles,” even though I am nothing.