Proverbs 30:1-20 ▼

1 These things says the man to them that trust in God; and I cease.

2 For I am the most simple of all men, and there is not in me the wisdom of men.

3 God has taught me wisdom, and I know the knowledge of the holy.

4 Who has gone up to heaven, and come down? who has gathered the winds in his bosom? who has wrapped up the waters in a garment? who has dominion of all the ends of the earth? what is his name? or what is the name of his children?

5 For all the words of God are tried in the fire, and he defends those that reverence him.

6 Add not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be made a liar.

7 Two things I ask of thee; take not favour from me before I die.

8 Remove far from me vanity and falsehood: and give me not wealth or poverty; but appoint me what is needful and sufficient:

9 lest I be filled and become false, and say, Who sees me? or be poor and steal, and swear vainly by the name of God.

10 Deliver not a servant into the hands of his master, lest he curse thee, and thou be utterly destroyed.

11 A wicked generation curse their father, and do not bless their mother.

12 A wicked generation judge themselves to be just, but do not cleanse their way.

13 A wicked generation have lofty eyes, and exalt themselves with their eyelids.

14 A wicked generation have swords for teeth and jaw-teeth as knives, so as to destroy and devour the lowly from the earth, and the poor of them from among men.

15 The horse-leech had three dearly-beloved daughters: and these three did not satisfy her; and the fourth was not contented so as to say, Enough.

16 The grave, and the love of a woman, and the earth not filled with water; water also and fire will not say, It is enough.

17 The eye that laughs to scorn a father, and dishonours the old age of a mother, let the ravens of the valleys pick it out, and let the young eagles devour it.

18 Moreover there are three things impossible for me to comprehend, and the fourth I know not:

19 the track of a flying eagle; and the ways of a serpent on a rock; and the paths of a ship passing through the sea; and the ways of a man in youth.

20 Such is the way of an adulterous woman, who having washed herself from what she has done, says she has done nothing amiss.