New American Standard Bible 1995

Proverbs 30:18-31

18There are three things which are too wonderful for me, Four which I do not understand:19The way of an 1eagle in the sky, The way of a serpent on a rock, The way of a ship in the middle of the sea, And the way of a man with a maid.20This is the way of an 2adulterous woman: She eats and wipes her mouth, And says, “I have done no wrong.”

21Under three things the earth quakes, And under four, it cannot bear up:22Under a 3slave when he becomes king, And a fool when he is satisfied with food,23Under an unloved woman when she gets a husband, And a maidservant when she supplants her mistress.

24Four things are small on the earth, But they are exceedingly wise:25The 4ants are not a strong people, But they prepare their food in the summer;26The 5 6shephanim are not mighty people, Yet they make their houses in the rocks;27The locusts have no king, Yet all of them go out in 7ranks;28The lizard you may grasp with the hands, Yet it is in kings’ palaces.

29There are three things which are stately in their march, Even four which are stately when they walk:30The lion which is 8mighty among beasts And does not 9 10retreat before any,31The 11strutting rooster, the male goat also, And a king when his army is with him.

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Notes

1. Proverbs 30:19 Deut 28:49; Jer 48:40; 49:22 ↩
2. Proverbs 30:20 Prov 5:6 ↩
3. Proverbs 30:22 Prov 19:10; Eccl 10:7 ↩
4. Proverbs 30:25 Prov 6:6 ↩
5. Proverbs 30:26 Small, shy, furry animals (Hyrax syriacus) found in the peninsula of the Sinai, northern Israel, and the region round the Dead Sea; KJV coney, orig NASB badgers ↩
6. Proverbs 30:26 Lev 11:5; Ps 104:18 ↩
7. Proverbs 30:27 Joel 2:7 ↩
8. Proverbs 30:30 Judg 14:18; 2 Sam 1:23 ↩
9. Proverbs 30:30 Lit turn back ↩
10. Proverbs 30:30 Mic 5:8 ↩
11. Proverbs 30:31 Lit girt in the loins ↩

Notes

Commentaries on Proverbs 30