Proverbs 30

New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised

Thus says the man: I am weary, O God,
    I am weary, O God. How can I prevail?^[a]
2 Surely I am too stupid to be human;
    I do not have human understanding.
³ I have not learned wisdom,
    nor have I knowledge of the holy ones.^[b]
4 Who has ascended to heaven and come down?
    Who has gathered the wind in the hollow of the hand?
Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment?
    Who has established all the ends of the earth?
What is the person’s name?
    And what is the name of the person’s child?
    Surely you know!

⁵ Every word of God proves true;
    he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
⁶ Do not add to his words,
    or else he will rebuke you, and you will be found a liar.

⁷ Two things I ask of you;
    do not deny them to me before I die:
⁸ Remove far from me falsehood and lying;
    give me neither poverty nor riches;
    feed me with the food that I need,
⁹ or I shall be full, and deny you,
    and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’
or I shall be poor, and steal,
    and profane the name of my God.

¹⁰ Do not slander a servant to a master,
    or the servant will curse you, and you will be held guilty.

¹¹ There are those who curse their fathers
    and do not bless their mothers.
¹² There are those who are pure in their own eyes
    yet are not cleansed of their filthiness.
¹³ There are those—how lofty are their eyes,
    how high their eyelids lift!—
¹⁴ there are those whose teeth are swords,
    whose teeth are knives,
to devour the poor from off the earth,
    the needy from among mortals.

¹⁵ The leech^[c] has two daughters;
    ‘Give, give,’ they cry.
Three things are never satisfied;
    four never say, ‘Enough’:
¹⁶ Sheol, the barren womb,
    the earth ever thirsty for water,
    and the fire that never says, ‘Enough.’^[d]

¹⁷ The eye that mocks a father
    and scorns to obey a mother
will be pecked out by the ravens of the valley
    and eaten by the vultures.

¹⁸ Three things are too wonderful for me;
    four I do not understand:
¹⁹ the way of an eagle in the sky,
    the way of a snake on a rock,
the way of a ship on the high seas,
    and the way of a man with a girl.

²⁰ This is the way of an adulteress:
    she eats, and wipes her mouth,
    and says, ‘I have done no wrong.’

²¹ Under three things the earth trembles;
    under four it cannot bear up:
²² a slave when he becomes king,
    and a fool when glutted with food;
²³ an unloved woman when she gets a husband,
    and a maid when she succeeds her mistress.

²⁴ Four things on earth are small,
    yet they are exceedingly wise:
²⁵ the ants are a people without strength,
    yet they provide their food in the summer;
²⁶ the badgers are a people without power,
    yet they make their homes in the rocks;
²⁷ the locusts have no king,
    yet all of them march in rank;
²⁸ the lizard^[e] can be grasped in the hand,
    yet it is found in kings’ palaces.

²⁹ Three things are stately in their stride;
    four are stately in their gait:
³⁰ the lion, which is mightiest among wild animals
    and does not turn back before any;
³¹ the strutting rooster,^[f] the he-goat,
    and a king striding before^[g] his people.

³² If you have been foolish, exalting yourself,
    or if you have been devising evil,
    put your hand on your mouth.
³³ For as pressing milk produces curds,
    and pressing the nose produces blood,
    so pressing anger produces strife.