Don’t brag about tomorrow, since you don’t know what the day will bring.
Parallel translations
- WEB Don’t boast about tomorrow; for you don’t know what a day may bring.
- KJV Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.
- BSB Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.
- NKJV Donot boast about tomorrow, For you do not know what a day may bring forth.
- NASB Do not boast about tomorrow, For you do not know what a day may bring.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Do not boast about tomorrow, since you cannot know what it holds. Humility before an uncertain future is wisdom.
Overview
This proverb rebukes presumptuous confidence about the future, which belongs entirely to God. James draws on it to teach that we should say, 'If the Lord wills, we will do this' (Jas 4:13-15). It calls for humble dependence on God's providence rather than self-assured planning.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Jas 4:13–16Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow let’s go into this city, and spend a year there, trade, and make a profit.”
- Luke 12:19–20I will tell my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.”’
- 2 Cor 6:2for he says, “At an acceptable time I listened to you, in a day of salvation I helped you.” Behold, now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.
- 1 Sam 28:19Moreover Yahweh will deliver Israel also with you into the hand of the Philistines; and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. Yahweh will deliver the army of Israel also into the hand of the Philistines.”
- Isa 56:12“Come,” say they, “I will get wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow will be as today, great beyond measure.”
- Ps 95:7for he is our God. We are the people of his pasture, and the sheep in his care. Today, oh that you would hear his voice!
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 27:1 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.