Proverbs 30

1 “My son, revere my words, receive them, and change your ways. This is what the man says to those who trust in God, and then I stop.

2 I am the most foolish of all people, and human discernment is not in me.

3 God has taught me wisdom, and I have known the knowledge of the holy.

4 Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the winds in his chest? Who has wrapped water in a garment? Who has taken hold of all the ends of the earth? What is his name, or what is the name of his children, so that you may know?

5 Every word of God has been refined by fire, and he protects those who revere him.

6 Do not add to his words, or he may correct you and you will become a liar.

7 I ask two things from you; do not take favor away from me before I die.

8 Keep futile and false speech far from me. Give me neither wealth nor poverty, but appoint what I need and what is sufficient for me,

9 so that I do not become full and false and say, ‘Who sees me?’ or become poor, steal, and swear by God’s name.

10 Do not hand a servant over to his master, or he may curse you and you will be destroyed.

11 An evil generation curses its father and does not bless its mother.

12 An evil generation judges itself righteous but has not washed its way clean.

13 An evil generation has lofty eyes and exalts itself with its eyelids.

14 An evil generation has swords for teeth and knives for molars, so that it destroys and devours the humble from the earth and the poor from among humanity.

15 The leech had three beloved daughters, and these three did not satisfy her; a fourth was not content to say, ‘Enough.’

16 Hades, the love of a woman, Tartarus, earth not filled with water, water, and fire will never say, ‘Enough.’

17 May ravens from the valleys tear out the eye that mocks a father and dishonors a mother’s old age, and may young eagles devour it.

18 There are three things impossible for me to understand, and a fourth I do not know:

19 the tracks of a flying eagle, the ways of a snake on a rock, the paths of a ship crossing the sea, and the ways of a man in his youth.

20 Such is the way of an adulterous woman: after acting and washing herself, she says she has done nothing wrong.

21 The earth is shaken by three things, and a fourth it cannot bear:

22 a servant who becomes king and a fool who is filled with food,

23 a female servant who drives out her own mistress, and a hated woman who obtains a good husband.

24 There are four very small things on earth, and they are wiser than the wise:

25 ants, which have no strength but prepare their food in summer;

26 rock hyraxes, a nation without strength that makes its homes among rocks;

27 locusts, which have no king but march out in good order at one command;

28 and the lizard, which braces itself with its hands and is easy to catch, yet lives in royal fortresses.

29 There are three things that travel successfully and a fourth that moves along beautifully:

30 a lion’s cub, stronger than the other beasts, which does not turn away or cower before any beast;

31 a rooster walking boldly among hens, a goat leading a herd, and a king speaking publicly before a nation.

32 If you give yourself over to pleasure and stretch out your hand in a quarrel, you will be disgraced.

33 Milk the milk, and there will be butter. If you squeeze nostrils, blood will come out; if you draw out words, disputes and fights will come out.”