Proverbs 30:10–31

¹⁰Don’t slander a servant to his master

or he will curse you, ^pand you will become guilty.

¹¹There is a generation that curses its father

and does not bless its mother. ^q

¹²There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes, ^r

yet is not washed from its filth.

¹³There is a generation—how haughty its eyes

and pretentious its looks. ^s

¹⁴There is a generation whose teeth are swords, ^t

whose fangs are knives, ^u

devouring the oppressed from the land ^v

and the needy from among mankind.

¹⁵The leech has two daughters: “Give, Give!”

Three things ^ware never satisfied;

four never say, “Enough!”:

¹⁶Sheol; ^xa childless womb; ^y

earth, which is never satisfied with water;

and fire, which never says, “Enough!”

¹⁷As for the eye that ridicules a father ^z

and despises obedience to a mother,

may ravens of the valley pluck it out

and young vultures eat it. ^a

¹⁸Three things are beyond me;

four I can’t understand:

¹⁹the way of an eagle in the sky,

the way of a snake on a rock,

the way of a ship at sea,

and the way of a man with a young woman.

²⁰This is the way of an adulteress:

she eats and wipes her mouth

and says, “I’ve done nothing wrong.” ^b

²¹The earth trembles under three things;

it cannot bear up under four:

²²a servant when he becomes king, ^c

a fool when he is stuffed with food,

²³an unloved woman when she marries, ^d

and a servant girl when she ousts her queen.

²⁴Four things on earth are small,

yet they are extremely wise:

²⁵the ants are not a strong people,

yet they store up their food in the summer; ^e

²⁶hyraxes are not a mighty people,

yet they make their homes in the cliffs; ^f

²⁷locusts have no king,

yet all of them march in ranks; ^g

²⁸a lizard ^hcan be caught in your hands,

yet it lives in kings’ palaces.

²⁹Three things are stately in their stride,

even four are stately in their walk:

³⁰a lion, which is mightiest among beasts

and doesn’t retreat before anything,

³¹a strutting rooster, ⁱa goat,

and a king at the head of his army. ^j