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 to his words, lest he reprove you, and you be made a liar. 7 Two things I ask of you; take not favor 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 you, and you 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 dishonors 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. 21 By three things the earth is troubled, and the fourth it can’t bear: 22 if a servant reign; or a fool be filled with food; 23 or if a maidservant should cast out her own mistress; and if a hateful woman should marry a good man. 24 And [there are] four very little things upon the earth, but these are wiser than the wise: 25 the ants which are weak, and [yet] prepare [their] food in summer; 26 the rabbits also [are] a feeble race, who make their houses in the rocks. 27 The locusts have no king, and [yet] march orderly at one command. 28 And the eft, which supports itself by [its] hands, and is easily taken, dwells in the fortresses of kings. 29 And there are three things which go well, and a fourth which passes along finely. 30 A lion's whelp, stronger than [all other] beasts, which turns not away, nor fears [any] beast; 31 and a cock walking in boldly among the hens, and the goat leading the herd; and a king publicly speaking before a nation. 32 If you abandon yourself to mirth, and stretch forth your hand in a quarrel, you shall be disgraced. 33 Milk out milk, and there shall be butter, and if you wing [one's] nostrils there shall come out blood: so if you extort words, there will come forth quarrels and strifes
Proverbs · Updated Brenton English Septuagint
Proverbs 30 Updated Brenton English Septuagint
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (1)
- Same Septuagint text as Brenton, with modernised spelling.
Cross references (29)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Proverbs 31:1; 2 Peter 1:19–21
- 2 Psalm 73:22; 1 Corinthians 3:18; Proverbs 5:12; 1 Corinthians 8:2; Isaiah 6:5
- 3 Ephesians 3:18–19; Revelation 3:7; Proverbs 9:10; Romans 11:33; Job 11:7–9
- 4 John 3:13; Ephesians 4:8–10; Job 26:8; Isaiah 9:6; Isaiah 7:14
- 5 Psalm 18:30; Psalm 12:6; James 3:17; Psalm 84:11; Psalm 3:3
- 6 Deuteronomy 12:32; Deuteronomy 4:2; Revelation 22:18–19; Job 13:7–9; 1 Corinthians 15:15
- 7 Luke 10:42; Psalm 27:4; 2 Kings 2:9; 1 Kings 3:5–9; Psalm 21:2
- 8 1 Timothy 6:6–8; Psalm 62:9–10; Psalm 119:37; Matthew 6:33; Luke 11:3
- 9 Hosea 13:6; Deuteronomy 31:20; Ezekiel 16:49–50; Deuteronomy 8:10–14; Nehemiah 9:25–26
- 10 Ecclesiastes 7:21; Romans 14:4; Daniel 3:8–18; 2 Samuel 19:26–27; 2 Chronicles 24:22–24
- 11 Proverbs 20:20; Deuteronomy 27:16; Proverbs 30:17; Exodus 21:17; Proverbs 30:12–14
- 12 Luke 18:11; Proverbs 16:2; 2 Timothy 3:5; Jeremiah 2:35; Titus 3:5
- 13 Proverbs 6:17; Isaiah 2:11; Psalm 101:5; Psalm 131:1; Ezekiel 28:9
- 14 Psalm 57:4; Psalm 3:7; Psalm 14:4; Job 29:17; Psalm 58:6
- 15 Proverbs 30:21; Romans 16:18; Proverbs 6:16; Proverbs 30:29; Jude 11–12
- 16 Proverbs 27:20; Habakkuk 2:5; Genesis 30:1
- 17 Proverbs 30:11; Proverbs 23:22; Deuteronomy 21:18–21; Leviticus 20:9; Proverbs 20:20
- 18 Job 42:3; Psalm 139:6
- 20 Proverbs 7:13–23; Proverbs 5:6; Numbers 5:11–30
- 22 Proverbs 19:10; Ecclesiastes 10:7; 1 Samuel 25:36–38; 1 Samuel 25:3; 1 Samuel 25:10–11
- 23 Proverbs 21:19; Proverbs 27:15; Proverbs 21:9; Proverbs 29:21; Proverbs 19:13
- 24 Job 12:7
- 25 Proverbs 6:6–8
- 26 Psalm 104:18; Leviticus 11:5
- 27 Joel 1:6–7; Joel 2:7–11; Psalm 105:34; Exodus 10:4–6; Joel 2:25
- 30 Judges 14:18; Numbers 23:24
- 31 Daniel 3:15–18; Proverbs 20:2; Proverbs 16:14
- 32 Job 21:5; Romans 3:19; Job 40:4; Micah 7:16–17; Proverbs 26:12
- 33 Proverbs 29:22; Proverbs 17:14; Proverbs 28:25; Proverbs 15:18; Proverbs 26:21
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
The slave shook the world, since by three things the earth is shaken, and the fourth it cannot bear,--if a slave became a king.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
There are in the Book of Proverbs three things which go well, a lion, a goat, and a cock; and to these is added a fourth;--a King making a speech before the people, to pass over the other sets of four which are there counted up, although things of various natures.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)