Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

¹⁸ Three things are too wonderful for me,
and four I cannot 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 virgin.

²⁰ This is the way of a woman who commits adultery:
She eats and wipes her mouth,
and she says, “I haven’t done anything wrong.”

²¹ Three things make the earth tremble.
There are four things it cannot endure:
²² a servant when he becomes king,
    an arrogant fool when he is filled with food,
²³ a woman who is hated when she is married,
    and a slave girl when she replaces her master’s wife.

²⁴ Four things are small on the earth,
yet they are wiser than the wisest people:
²⁵ Ants are a species without strength,
    but they store their food in summer.
²⁶ Rock badgers are a species without power,
    but they make their home in a cliff.
²⁷ Locusts have no king,
    but they all march ahead in ranks.
²⁸ Lizards can be caught in your hands,
    but they live in kings’ palaces.

²⁹ Three things strut impressively.
Four walk with dignity:
³⁰ a lion, which is the mightiest among the animals,
    does not turn away from anything,
³¹ a strutting rooster,^[a]
    a male goat,
    and a king reviewing his troops.^[b]

³² If you have acted like a fool by exalting yourself,
or if you have been scheming,
put your hand over your mouth,
³³ because just as pressing milk produces cheese,^[c]
and pressing a nose brings forth blood,
so pressing one’s anger produces a fight.

The Deliverer will come out of Zion;
he will remove ungodliness from Jacob.
²⁷ And this is my covenant with them
when I take away their sins.^[a]