Proverbs 30

1The sayings of Agur son of Jakeh, an oracle. This man declares to Ithiel, to Ithiel and Ucal: 2I am surely the most ignorant of all people; I lack ordinary human understanding. 3I have not learned wisdom, nor do I have knowledge of the Holy One. 4Who has climbed up to heaven and come back down? Who has caught the wind in the palms of his hands? Who has bundled the waters in a cloak? Who has fixed all the boundaries of the earth? What is his name, and the name of his son? Tell me, if you know! 5Every word God speaks is proven true; he is a shield to all who take refuge in him. 6Do not add anything to his words, or he will correct you and show you to be a liar.

7I ask you for two things; grant them to me before I die: 8Keep falsehood and lies far away from me; give me neither poverty nor wealth, but feed me with the bread I need each day, 9so that I do not have too much and disown you, asking, “Who is the LORD?” or have too little and steal, and so bring disgrace on my God’s name.

10Do not speak against a servant to his master, or the servant will call down a curse on you, and you will be found guilty. 11There are people who curse their fathers and never speak well of their mothers. 12There are people who think they are clean, yet their filth has never been washed away. 13There are people whose eyes are so haughty, whose glances are full of scorn! 14There are people whose teeth are swords and whose jaws are set with knives, to devour the afflicted off the earth and the needy from the human race.

15The leech has two daughters, both called “Give!” Three things can never be filled; four never say, “Enough!”: 16Sheol, the barren womb, land that never has its fill of water, and fire that never says, “Enough!” 17The eye that sneers at a father and scorns to obey a mother will be pecked out by the ravens of the valley and eaten by young vultures.

18There are three things that amaze me, four that are beyond my understanding: 19An eagle making its way through the sky, a snake gliding over a rock, a ship finding its way across the open sea, and the way a man and a young woman come together. 20This is how an adulteress behaves: she eats, wipes her mouth, and says, “I did no wrong.”

21The earth shakes under three things; there are four it cannot endure: 22a servant who becomes king, a fool who has more than enough to eat, 23an unloved woman who finally gets a husband, and a servant girl who takes her mistress’s place.

24On earth there are four small creatures that are wiser than the wise: 25ants are a people without strength, yet they store up their food in summer; 26rock badgers are a feeble folk, yet they set up house among the crags; 27locusts have no king, yet they all march out in ordered ranks; 28a lizard can be caught in the hand, yet it lives in kings’ palaces.

29There are three things that move with dignity, four that have a stately walk: 30the lion, strongest among the animals, which retreats from nothing; 31the strutting rooster, the he-goat, and a king at the head of his troops. 32If you have played the fool by putting yourself forward, or if you have been scheming, put your hand over your mouth! 33For as churning milk produces butter, and pressing the nose produces blood, so pressing anger produces a quarrel.