Chapter 30

¹ These things says the man to them that trust in God; and I cease. ² For I am the most simple of all men, and there is not in me the wisdom of men. ³ God has taught me wisdom, and I know the knowledge of the holy. ⁴ Who has gone up to heaven, and come down? who has gathered the winds in his * bosom? who has wrapped up the waters in a garment? who has dominion of all the ends of the earth? what is his name? or what is the name of his children? ⁵ For all the words of God are tried in the fire, and he defends those that reverence him. ⁶ Add not to his words, lest he reprove you, and you be made a liar. ⁷ Two things I ask of you; take not favor from me before I die. ⁸ Remove far from me vanity and falsehood: and give me not wealth [or] poverty; but appoint me what is needful and sufficient: ⁹ lest I be filled and become false, and say, Who sees me? or be poor and steal, and swear [vainly] by the name of God. ¹⁰ Deliver not a servant into the hands of his master, lest he curse you, and you be utterly destroyed. ¹¹ A wicked generation curse their father, and do not bless their mother. ¹² A wicked generation judge themselves to be just, but do not cleanse their way. ¹³ A wicked generation have lofty eyes, and exalt themselves with their eyelids. ¹⁴ A wicked generation have swords [for] teeth and jaw teeth [as] knives, so as to destroy and devour the lowly from the earth, and the poor of them from among men. ¹⁵ The horse-leech had three dearly beloved daughters: and these three did not satisfy her; and the fourth was not contented so as to say, Enough. ¹⁶ The grave, and the love of a woman, and the earth not filled with water; water also and fire will not say, It is enough. ¹⁷ The eye that laughs to scorn a father, and dishonors the old age of a mother, let the ravens of the valleys pick it out, and let the young eagles devour it. ¹⁸ Moreover there are three things impossible for me to comprehend, and the fourth I know not: ¹⁹ the track of a flying eagle; and the ways of a serpent on a rock; and the paths of a ship passing through the sea; and the ways of a man in youth. ²⁰ Such is the way of an adulterous woman, who having washed herself from what she has done, says she has done nothing * amiss. ²¹ By three things the earth is troubled, and the fourth it can’t bear: ²² if a servant reign; or a fool be filled with food; ²³ or if a maidservant should cast out her own mistress; and if a hateful woman should marry a good man. ²⁴ And [there are] four very little things upon the earth, but these are wiser than the wise: ²⁵ the ants which are weak, and [yet] prepare [their] food in summer; ²⁶ the rabbits also [are] a feeble race, who make their houses in the rocks. ²⁷ The locusts have no king, and [yet] march orderly at one command. ²⁸ And the eft, which supports itself by [its] hands, and is easily taken, dwells in the fortresses of kings. ²⁹ And there are three things which go well, and a fourth which passes along finely. ³⁰ A lion's whelp, stronger than [all other] beasts, which turns not away, nor fears [any] beast; ³¹ and a cock walking in boldly among the hens, and the goat leading the herd; and a king publicly speaking before a nation. ³² If you abandon yourself to mirth, and stretch forth your hand in a quarrel, you shall be disgraced. ³³ Milk out milk, and there shall be butter, and if you wing [one's] nostrils there shall come out blood: so if you extort words, there will come forth quarrels and strifes

Pr 30:1-33