Proverbs 30

International Standard Version

This is what this valiant man declared to the God with me,
    to the God with me, who then prevailed:^[b]
2 Surely I am beyond the senselessness of any man;
    I do not perceive things^[c] the way human beings do.
³ I never acquired wisdom,
    but I know what the Holy One knows.

⁴ Who has ascended to heaven,
    and then descended?
        Who has collected the wind in his hands?
Who has wrapped up waters in a garment?
    Who has established all the farthest points of the earth?
What is his name,
    and what is his son’s name?
        Surely you know!

⁵ Everything God says is pure;
    he is a shield for those who take refuge in him.
⁶ Don’t add to his words,
    or he will rebuke you,
        and you will be shown to be a liar.

¹¹ Some people^[g] curse their fathers
    and won’t bless their mothers.
¹² Some people^[h] view themselves as pure,
    but haven’t been cleansed from their own filth.
¹³ Some people^[i]—what an arrogant look they have!—
    raise their eyebrows haughtily.
¹⁴ Some people^[j] have swords for teeth
    and knives for fangs
to devour the afflicted from the earth
    and the needy from among mankind.

¹⁵ The leech has two daughters:
    “Give” and “Give”.
Three things will never be satisfied;
    four will never say “Enough”—
¹⁶ The afterlife,^[k] the barren womb,
    earth that still demands water,
        and fire—they never say, “Enough”.

¹⁷ The eye that mocks a father
    and looks with a disobedient attitude at^[l] a mother—
the valley ravens will pluck it out;
    and vultures will eat it.

²⁰ This is what an immoral woman is like:
    she eats, wipes her mouth, then says
        “I’ve done nothing wrong.”

²¹ Under three things the earth trembles,
    under four it cannot remain steady:
²² Under a slave when he becomes a king,
    a fool when he is overfed,
²³ an unloved woman when she finds a husband,
    and a servant girl who inherits from her mistress.

²⁴ Four things on earth are small,
    but they are very, very wise:
²⁵ Ants aren’t a strong species,^[m]
    yet they prepare their food in the summer.
²⁶ The rock badgers aren’t a strong species^[n] either,
    yet they build their dens in the rocks.
²⁷ Locusts have no king,
    but they all swarm in ranks.
²⁸ Spiders can be caught by the hand,
    yet they’re found in kings’ palaces.

²⁹ Three things are stately in procession,
    four which are stately in their gait:
³⁰ The lion, mighty among the beasts,
    retreats before nothing.
³¹ The strutting rooster, as well as the goat,
    and a king with his army.

³² If you’ve foolishly exalted yourself
    or if you’ve plotted evil,
        put your hand over your mouth.
³³ Just as whipping milk produces butter,
    and twisting the nose causes bleeding,
        so also stirring up anger produces contention.