Proverbs 30

The words of Agur son of Jakeh, the burden: The declaration of the strong man to Ithiel, to Ithiel and Ucal: 2 “Surely, I {am} more stupid than a man, and the understanding of man {is} not mine. \* 3 And I have not learned wisdom, nor the knowledge of holy ones do I know. 4 Who has ascended {to} heaven and descended? Who has gathered the wind in the hollow of his hands? Who has wrapped waters in the cloak? Who has raised up all the ends of the earth? What {is} his name? And what {is} the name of his son? Surely you know! \* 5 Every saying of God is refined; he {is} a shield for those who take refuge in him. 6 Do not add upon his words, lest he rebuke you and you be shown a liar. \* 7 Two things I ask from with you, do not withhold from me before I die: 8 Emptiness and the word of a lie put far away from me. Do not give to me poverty or riches; cause me to receive the bread of my portion. 9 Lest I be satiated, and I deny and say, ‘Who {is} God?’ And lest I become dispossessed and steal, and I seize the name of my God. \* 10 Do not slander a slave to his master, lest he curse you, and you be found guilty. 11 {There is} a generation, it curses its father and does not bless its mother. 12 {There is} a generation clean in its eyes, but it is not washed from its excrement. \* 13 {There is} a generation, how its eyes are raised up, and its eyelids are lifted up! 14 {There is} a generation, its teeth {are} swords and its fangs {are} knives for devouring the afflicted from the earth and the needy from man. \* 15 Two daughters {are} to the leech, ‘Give! Give!’ {There are} three, they are not satisfied; four, they do not say, ‘Enough:’ 16 Sheol, and the closure of the womb, a land not satisfied with water, and a fire—it does not say, ‘Enough!’ 17 An eye mocks a father and shows contempt for the obedience {to} a mother; the ravens of the valley will peck it out, and the sons of the vulture will eat it. \* 18 Three things, they {are} too wonderful for me, and four, I do not understand them: 19 the 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 young man with a young woman. 20 Thus {is} the way of a woman who commits adultery: She eats and wipes her mouth and says, ‘I have not done iniquity.’ \* 21 Under three things the earth quakes, and under four it is not able to hold up: 22 under a slave when he becomes king and a worthless one when he is satisfied with bread, 23 under a hated woman when she is married and a female servant when she dispossesses her mistress. \* 24 Four things, they {are} small things of the earth but they {are} wise things, being made wise: 25 The ants {are} a people not strong, but they prepare their food in the summer. 26 Rock badgers {are} a people not mighty, but they set their house in the cliff. \* 27 There is no king for the locust, but each of it goes out divided {into groups}. 28 You can catch a lizard with hands, yet it {is} in the palaces of the king. \* 29 Three things, they are doing well of step, and four are doing well of walking: 30 a lion, mighty among the animals, and it will not turn away from the face of anything, 31 a rooster of loins, or a male goat, and a king against whom one does not rise up. \* 32 If you have been foolish by lifting up yourself, or if you have schemed, a hand {be} to mouth! 33 For the squeezing of milk brings out butter, and the squeezing of the nose brings out blood, and the squeezing of nostrils brings out strife.” \*