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.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 30:31 Or the magpie, or the greyhound; Hebrew girt-of-loins
  2. Proverbs 30:31 Or against whom there is no rising up

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