Proverbs 30:21-31:10

English Standard Version

²¹Under ^(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;
²⁷the locusts have no ^(K)king,
    yet all of them march in ^(L)rank;
²⁸the 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:
³⁰the lion, which is mightiest among beasts
    and ^(O)does not turn back before any;
³¹the ^(P)strutting rooster,^[a] the he-goat,
    and a king whose army is with him.^[b]

³²If you have been foolish, exalting yourself,
    or if you have been devising evil,
    ^(Q)put your hand on your mouth.
³³For 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:

²What are you doing, my son?^[c] What are you doing, ^(R)son of my womb?
    What are you doing, ^(S)son of my vows?
³Do ^(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,
⁵lest they drink and forget what has been decreed
    and ^(Y)pervert the rights of all the afflicted.
⁶Give 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]
⁹Open 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.

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