Proverbs 30:15–29

¹⁵“The leech has two daughters.

‘Give! Give!’ they cry.

“There are three things that are never satisfied,ⁱ

four that never say, ‘Enough!’:

¹⁶the grave,^j the barren womb,

land, which is never satisfied with water,

and fire, which never says, ‘Enough!’

¹⁷“The eye that mocks^k a father,

that scorns an aged mother,

will be pecked out by the ravens of the valley,

will be eaten by the vultures.^l

¹⁸“There are three things that are too amazing for me,

four that I do not understand:

¹⁹the way of an eagle in the sky,

the way of a snake on a rock,

the way of a ship on the high seas,

and the way of a man with a young woman.

²⁰“This is the way of an adulterous woman:

She eats and wipes her mouth

and says, ‘I’ve done nothing wrong.’^m

²¹“Under three things the earth trembles,

under four it cannot bear up:

²²a servant who becomes king,ⁿ

a godless fool who gets plenty to eat,

²³a contemptible woman who gets married,

and a servant who displaces her mistress.

²⁴“Four things on earth are small,

yet they are extremely wise:

²⁵Ants are creatures of little strength,

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

²⁶hyraxes^p are creatures of little power,

yet they make their home in the crags;

²⁷locusts^q have no king,

yet they advance together in ranks;

²⁸a lizard can be caught with the hand,

yet it is found in kings’ palaces.

²⁹“There are three things that are stately in their stride,

four that move with stately bearing: