Proverbs 27:17

Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.

King James Version · Read in your translation · Open the Explore console

Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
Iron	בַּרְזֶ֣ל bar.Zel	H1270	iron (as cutting) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
sharpeneth	יָ֑חַד Ya.chad	H2300	to be (causatively · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
iron	בְּבַרְזֶ֣ל be.var.Zel	H1270	iron (as cutting) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
man	וְ֝אִ֗ישׁ ve.'Ish	H376	a man as an individual or a male person · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute
sharpeneth	יַ֣חַד Ya.chad	H2300	to be (causatively · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
countenance	פְּנֵֽי pe.nei-	H6440	the face (as the part that turns) · noun, common masculine plural construct
friend	רֵעֵֽהוּ re.'E.hu	H7453	an associate (more or less close) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Hebrews 10:24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
Proverbs 27:9 Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so doth the sweetness of a man’s friend by hearty counsel.
Job 4:3-4 Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands.
1 Samuel 23:16 And Jonathan Saul’s son arose, and went to David into the wood, and strengthened his hand in God.
Isaiah 35:3-4 Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.
2 Timothy 2:3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 4:12-13 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
2 Samuel 10:11-12 And he said, If the Syrians be too strong for me, then thou shalt help me: but if the children of Ammon be too strong for thee, then I will…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 27:17

This intimates both the pleasure and the advantage of conversation. One man is nobody; nor will poring upon a book in a corner accomplish a man as the reading and studying of men will. Wise and profitable discourse sharpens men's wits; and those that have ever so much knowledge may by conference have something added to them. It sharpens men's looks, and, by cheering the spirits, puts a briskness and liveliness into the countenance, and gives a man such an air as shows he is pleased himself and makes him pleasing to those about him. Good men's graces are sharpened by converse with those that are good, and bad men's lusts and passions are sharpened by converse with those that are bad, as iron…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 27:17

a man sharpeneth . . . friend--that is, conversation promotes intelligence, which the face exhibits.

John Gill on Proverbs 27:17

Iron sharpeneth iron,.... A sword or knife made of iron is sharpened by it; so butchers sharpen their knives; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend; by conversation with him; thus learned men sharpen one another's minds, and excite each other to learned studies; Christians sharpen one another's graces, or stir up each other to the exercise of them, and the gifts which are bestowed on them, and to love and to good works. So Jarchi and Gersom understand it of the sharpening of men's minds to the learning of doctrine; but Aben Ezra, takes it in an ill sense, that as iron strikes iron and sharpens it, so a wrathful man irritates and provokes wrath in another. Some render the words,…

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Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 27:17

This proverb expresses the influence arising from the intercourse of man with man: Iron is sharpened by iron, And a man may sharpen the appearance of another. When the Masora reads יחד, Ewald remarks, it interprets the word as denoting "at the same time," and the further meaning of the proverb must then accord therewith. Accordingly he translates: "iron together with iron! and one together with the face of another!" But then the prep. ב or עם is wanting after the second יחד - for יחד is, in spite of Ewald, 217h, never a prep. - and the "face," 17b, would be a perplexing superfluity. Hitzig already replies, but without doing homage to the traditional text-punctuation, that such a violence to…

The Church Fathers

Iron sharpens iron, etc. The consultation and advice of the wise is quite good, where they instruct each other by consulting, iron sharpens iron.
— Bede, Commentary on Proverbs

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Countenance · Cheerful — Cheerful
Friendship · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Iron · File — File
Metals · Mentioned in scripture: Iron — Mentioned in scripture: Iron

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Proverbs 27:17

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 27:17

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 27:17

John Gill on Proverbs 27:17

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 27:17

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Proverbs 27:17

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 27:17

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 27:17

John Gill on Proverbs 27:17

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 27:17

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Proverbs 27:17

Rashi on Proverbs 27:17