⁹ Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding,
    whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle,
    else it will not stay near you.^(A)

³ A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey,
    and a rod for the back of fools.^(A)

²² “For my people are foolish;
    they do not know me;
they are stupid children;
    they have no understanding.
They are skilled in doing evil
    but do not know how to do good.”^(A)

⁶ I have given heed and listened,
    but they do not speak honestly;
no one repents of wickedness,
    saying, “What have I done!”
All of them turn to their own course
    like a horse plunging headlong into battle.^(A)
7 Even the stork in the heavens
    knows its times,
and the turtledove, swallow, and crane^[a]
    observe the time of their coming,
but my people do not know
    the ordinance of the Lord.^(B)

¹¹ who teaches us more than the animals of the earth
    and makes us wiser than the birds of the air?’^(A)