Proverbs 30:10–33

¹⁰Do not slander a servant to his master,

or else he will curse you and you will be guilty.

¹¹There is a generation that will curse its father,

and its mother it will not bless.

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

but from its filthiness it will not be cleansed.

¹³There is a generation—how lofty are their eyes!

And their eyelids they will lift.

¹⁴There is a generation whose teeth are swords,

and its jawbones, knives,

in order to devour the poor from the earth^f

and the needy from humankind.

¹⁵For the leech, there are two daughters;

“Give, give!” they cry.

As for three of these, they are not satisfied;

as for four, they do not say enough.

¹⁶Sheol^g and barrenness of womb,

the land is not satisfied with water,

and fire does not say “enough!”

¹⁷The eye that mocks a father

and scorns the obedience of a mother—

the ravens of the valley will peck it out,

and the offspring of vultures will eat it.

¹⁸Three of these are too wonderful for me,

and four, I do not understand them:

¹⁹the way of the eagle in the sky,

the way of a snake on a rock,

the way of a ship in the heart of the sea,

and the way of a man with a young woman.

²⁰This is the way of a woman committing adultery:

she eats and wipes her mouth,

and says “I have not done wrong.”

²¹Under three things the earth^h trembles,

and under four, it is not able to bear up:

²²under a slave when he becomes king,

and a fool when he is satisfied with food;

²³under an unloved woman when she gets married,

and a maid when she succeeds her mistress.

²⁴There are four small things on the earth,

and they are exceedingly wise:ⁱ

²⁵The ants are a people who are not strong,

yet they prepare their food in the summer;

²⁶the badgers are a people who are not mighty,

yet they set their house on the rock;

²⁷there is no king for the locust,

yet it marches in rank;

²⁸a lizard you can seize with hands,

yet it is in palaces of kings.

²⁹There are three things that are magnificent of stride,

and four that are magnificent when moving:

³⁰a mighty lion among the beasts,^j

but he will not turn back from any face;^k

³¹a strutting rooster or he-goat,

and a king whose army is with him.

³²If you have been foolish by exalting yourself,

and if you have devised evil, put your hand to your mouth.

³³For pressing milk produces curd,

and pressing the nose produces blood,

so pressing anger^l produces strife.