English Standard Version

Proverbs 30:15-29 English Standard Version (ESV)

15. The leech has two daughters:Give and Give. Three things are never satisfied; four never say, “Enough”:

16. Sheol, the barren womb,the land never satisfied with water,and the fire that never says, “Enough.”

17. The eye that mocks a fatherand scorns to obey a motherwill be picked out by the ravens of the valleyand eaten by the vultures.

18. Three things are too wonderful for me; four I do not understand:

19. the way of an eagle in the sky,the way of a serpent on a rock,the way of a ship on the high seas,and the way of a man with a virgin.

20. This is the way of an adulteress:she eats and wipes her mouthand says, “I have done no wrong.”

21. Under three things the earth trembles;under four it cannot bear up:

22. a slave when he becomes king,and a fool when he is filled with food;

23. an unloved woman when she gets a husband,and a maidservant when she displaces her mistress.

24. Four things on earth are small,but they are exceedingly wise:

25. the ants are a people not strong,yet they provide their food in the summer;

26. the rock badgers are a people not mighty,yet they make their homes in the cliffs;

27. the locusts have no king,yet all of them march in rank;

28. the lizard you can take in your hands,yet it is in kings’ palaces.

29. Three things are stately in their tread; four are stately in their stride: