Proverbs 30

¹ The words of Agur, son of Jakeh the Massaite: The pronouncement of mortal man: "I am not God; I am not God, that I should prevail.

² Why, I am the most stupid of men, and have not even human intelligence;

³ Neither have I learned wisdom, nor have I the knowledge of the Holy One.

⁴ Who has gone up to heaven and come down again-- who has cupped the wind in his hands? Who has bound up the waters in a cloak-- who has marked out all the ends of the earth? What is his name, what is his son's name, if you know it?"

⁵ Every word of God is tested; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.

⁶ Add nothing to his words, lest he reprove you, and you be exposed as a deceiver.

⁷ Two things I ask of you, deny them not to me before I die:

⁸ Put falsehood and lying far from me, give me neither poverty nor riches; (provide me only with the food I need;)

⁹ Lest, being full, I deny you, saying, "Who is the LORD?" Or, being in want, I steal, and profane the name of my God.

¹⁰ Slander not a servant to his master, lest he curse you, and you have to pay the penalty.

¹¹ There is a group of people that curses its father, and blesses not its mother.

¹² There is a group that is pure in its own eyes, yet is not purged of its filth.

¹³ There is a group--how haughty their eyes! how overbearing their glance!

¹⁴ There is a group whose incisors are swords, whose teeth are knives, Devouring the needy from the earth, and the poor from among men.

¹⁵ The two daughters of the leech are, "Give, Give." Three things are never satisfied, four never say, "Enough!"

¹⁶ The nether world, and the barren womb; the earth, that is never saturated with water, and fire, that never says, "Enough!"

¹⁷ The eye that mocks a father, or scorns an aged mother, Will be plucked out by the ravens in the valley; the young eagles will devour it.

¹⁸ Three things are too wonderful for me, yes, four I cannot understand:

¹⁹ The way of an eagle in the air, the way of a serpent upon a rock, The way of a ship on the high seas, and the way of a man with a maiden.

²⁰ Such is the way of an adulterous woman: she eats, wipes her mouth, and says, "I have done no wrong."

²¹ Under three things the earth trembles, yes, under four it cannot bear up:

²² Under a slave when he becomes king, and a fool when he is glutted with food;

²³ Under an odious woman when she is wed, and a maidservant when she displaces her mistress.

²⁴ Four things are among the smallest on the earth, and yet are exceedingly wise:

²⁵ Ants--a species not strong, yet they store up their food in the summer;

²⁶ Rock-badgers--a species not mighty, yet they make their home in the crags;

²⁷ Locusts--they have no king, yet they migrate all in array;

²⁸ Lizards--you can catch them with your hands, yet they find their way into king's palaces.

²⁹ Three things are stately in their stride, yes, four are stately in their carriage:

³⁰ The lion, mightiest of beasts, who retreats before nothing;

³¹ The strutting cock, and the he-goat, and the king at the head of his people.

³² If you have foolishly been proud or presumptuous--put your hand on your mouth;

³³ For the stirring of milk brings forth curds, and the stirring of anger brings forth blood.