Proverbs 30:20-31:30
English Standard Version
20 This is the way of an adulteress:
she eats and wipes her mouth
and says, “I have done no wrong.”
21 Under (A)three things (B)the earth trembles;
under (C)four it cannot bear up:
22 (D)a slave when he becomes king,
and a fool when he is (E)filled with food;
23 (F)an unloved woman when she (G)gets a husband,
and a maidservant when she displaces her mistress.
24 (H)Four things on earth are small,
but they are exceedingly wise:
25 (I)the ants are a people not strong,
yet they provide their food in the summer;
26 (J)the rock badgers are a people not mighty,
yet they make their homes in the cliffs;
27 the locusts have no (K)king,
yet all of them march in (L)rank;
28 the lizard you can take in your hands,
yet it is in kings' palaces.
29 (M)Three things are stately in their tread;
(N)four are stately in their stride:
30 the lion, which is mightiest among beasts
and (O)does not turn back before any;
31 the (P)strutting rooster,[a] the he-goat,
and a king whose army is with him.[b]
32 If you have been foolish, exalting yourself,
or if you have been devising evil,
(Q)put your hand on your mouth.
33 For pressing milk produces curds,
pressing the nose produces blood,
and pressing anger produces strife.
The Words of King Lemuel
31 The words of King Lemuel. An oracle that his mother taught him:
2 What are you doing, my son?[c] What are you doing, (R)son of my womb?
What are you doing, (S)son of my vows?
3 Do (T)not give your strength to women,
your ways to those (U)who destroy kings.
4 (V)It is not for kings, O Lemuel,
it is not for kings (W)to drink wine,
or for rulers to take (X)strong drink,
5 lest they drink and forget what has been decreed
and (Y)pervert the rights of all the afflicted.
6 Give strong drink to the one who (Z)is perishing,
and wine to (AA)those in bitter distress;[d]
7 (AB)let them drink and forget their poverty
and remember their misery no more.
8 (AC)Open your mouth for the mute,
for the rights of all who are destitute.[e]
9 Open your mouth, (AD)judge righteously,
(AE)defend the rights of (AF)the poor and needy.
The Woman Who Fears the Lord
10 [f] (AG)An excellent wife who can find?
She is far more precious than (AH)jewels.
11 The heart of her husband trusts in her,
and he will have no lack of gain.
12 She does him good, and not harm,
all the days of her life.
13 She (AI)seeks wool and flax,
and works with willing hands.
14 She is like the ships of the merchant;
she brings her food from afar.
15 She (AJ)rises while it is yet night
and (AK)provides food for her household
and portions for her maidens.
16 She considers a field and buys it;
with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.
17 She (AL)dresses herself[g] with strength
and makes her arms strong.
18 She perceives that her merchandise is profitable.
Her lamp does not go out at night.
19 She puts her hands to the distaff,
and her hands hold the spindle.
20 She (AM)opens her hand to (AN)the poor
and reaches out her hands to (AO)the needy.
21 She is not afraid of snow for her household,
for all her household are clothed in (AP)scarlet.[h]
22 She makes (AQ)bed coverings for herself;
her clothing is (AR)fine linen and (AS)purple.
23 Her husband is known in (AT)the gates
when he sits among the elders of the land.
24 She makes (AU)linen garments and sells them;
she delivers sashes to the merchant.
25 (AV)Strength and dignity are her clothing,
and she laughs at the time to come.
26 She opens her mouth with wisdom,
and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
27 She looks well to the ways of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
28 Her children rise up and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:
29 “Many (AW)women have done (AX)excellently,
but you surpass them all.”
30 (AY)Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,
but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 30:31 Or the magpie, or the greyhound; Hebrew girt-of-loins
- Proverbs 30:31 Or against whom there is no rising up
- Proverbs 31:2 Hebrew What, my son?
- Proverbs 31:6 Hebrew those bitter in soul
- Proverbs 31:8 Hebrew are sons of passing away
- Proverbs 31:10 Verses 10–31 are an acrostic poem, each verse beginning with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet
- Proverbs 31:17 Hebrew She girds her loins
- Proverbs 31:21 Or in double thickness
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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