Proverbs 30:5-33 ▼

5 Every word of God is refined; He is a shield for those taking refuge in Him.

6 Do not add to His words, lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar.

7 Two things I have asked of You—do not withhold them from me before I die:

8 Put vanity and the word of a lie far away from me; do not give poverty or wealth to me; provide me the bread of my portion,

9 lest I become satisfied and I deny and say, ‘Who is YHWH?’ And lest I become dispossessed and steal, and I seize the name of my God.

10 Do not slander a servant to his master, lest he curse you and you be found guilty.

11 A generation lightly esteems its father, and does not bless its mother.

12 A generation is pure in its own eyes and yet has not been washed from its filth.

13 A generation—how high its eyes, and its eyelids are lifted up!

14 A generation—its teeth are swords and its fangs are knives, to devour the poor from the earth, and needy ones from mankind.

15 Unto the leech are two daughters—‘Give, and Give. Three things are never satisfied, four never say, ‘Enough!’:

16 Sheol, and the barren womb, earth not satisfied with water, and the fire never having said, ‘Enough!’

17 The eye that mocks at a father and despises obedience to a mother—the ravens of the valley will dig it out, and the young eagles will eat it.

18 Three things, they are wonderful for me, and four, I cannot know them:

19 The way of an eagle in the heavens, the way of a snake on a rock, the way of a ship in the midst of the sea, and the way of a man with a maiden.

20 This is the way of a woman committing adultery: She eats and has wiped her mouth and has said, ‘I have not done wickedness.’

21 For three things the earth has trembled, and for four it is not able to bear up:

22 Under a servant when he becomes king, and a fool when he is filled with food,

23 under a hated woman when she is married, and a maidservant when she dispossesses her mistress.

24 Four things, they are small on the earth; they are wiser than wise:

25 The ants are a people not strong, and they prepare their food in the summer;

26 the rock badgers are a people not strong, and they set their home in the cliffs;

27 a king is not unto the locust, and go they forth in formation, all of them;

28 the lizard can be caught in one’s hands, and it is in the palaces of king.

29 Three things, they are are doing well of step, even four are doing well in the walk:

30 A lion, mighty among the beasts, and it does not turn back from the face of anything;

31 one girded of loins, or a he-goat, and a king with his army around him.

32 If you have been foolish in lifting up yourself, and if you have schemed—hand to mouth!

33 For as the churning of milk brings forth butter, and pressing of the nose brings forth blood, so the pressing of anger brings forth strife.”