Proverbs 27:2 - Exposition

Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; Septuagint, "Let thy neighbour ( ὁ πέλας ) laud thee." A stranger; גָכְרִי , properly, "an unknown person from an unknown country;" but, like זר in the former hemistich, used indifferently for "another" (see on Proverbs 2:16 ). "If I honour myself," said our Lord ( John 8:54 ), "my honour is nothing" And as St. Paul testifies ( 2 Corinthians 10:18 ), "Not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth."

υπὲρ σαευτοῦ μὴ φράσῃς ἐγκώμια

said the Greek gnomist; and

φίλων ἔπαινον μᾶλλον ἢ σαυτοῦ λέγε .

And a trite maxim runs, " In ore proprio laus sordet ;" and an English one decides, "He who praises himself is a debtor to others." Delitzsch quotes a German proverb (which loses the jingle in translation), "Eigen-lob stinkt, Freundes Lob hinkt, fremdes Lob klingt," "Self-praise stinks, friends' praise limps, strangers' praise sounds."