Thus says the man: I am weary, O God;
    I am weary, O God, and am wasting away.^[a](A)
2 Surely I am too stupid to be human;
    I do not have human understanding.^(B)
3 I have not learned wisdom,
    nor have I knowledge of the holy ones.^[b](C)
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!^(D)

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;^(A)
26 the badgers are a people without power,
    yet they make their homes in the rocks;^(B)
27 the locusts have no king,
    yet all of them march in rank;
²⁸ the lizard^[a] 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;^(C)
31 the strutting rooster,^[b] the he-goat,
    and a king against whom none can stand.

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