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)

⁵ Every word of God proves true;
    he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.^(E)
6 Do not add to his words,
    lest he rebuke you, and you be found a liar.^(F)

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,^(G)
9 lest I be full and deny you
    and say, “Who is the Lord?”
or I be poor and steal
    and profane the name of my God.^(H)

¹⁰ Do not slander a servant to a master,
    lest the servant curse you, and you be held guilty.^(I)

¹¹ There are those who curse their fathers
    and do not bless their mothers.^(J)
12 There are those who are pure in their own eyes,
    yet are not cleansed of their filthiness.^(K)
13 There are those—how lofty are their eyes,
    how high their eyelids lift!—^(L)
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.^(M)

¹⁵ The leech 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.”^(N)

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.^(O)

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 woman.

²⁰ This is the way of an adulteress:
    she eats and wipes her mouth
    and says, “I have done no wrong.”^(P)

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,^(Q)
23 a contemptible woman when she gets a husband
    and a maid when she supplants 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;^(R)
26 the badgers are a people without power,
    yet they make their homes in the rocks;^(S)
27 the locusts have no king,
    yet all of them march in rank;
²⁸ the lizard^[c] 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;^(T)
31 the strutting rooster,^[d] 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.^(U)
33 For as pressing milk produces curds
    and pressing the nose produces blood,
    so pressing anger produces strife.^(V)