Proverbs 30:1-4; 24-33

[1]The words of Agur son of Jakeh. An oracle.

Thus says the man: I am weary, O God,

I am weary, O God. How can I prevail?

[2]Surely I am too stupid to be human;

I do not have human understanding.

[3]I have not learned wisdom,

nor have I knowledge of the holy ones.

[4]Who has ascended to heaven and come down?

Who has gathered the wind in the hollow of the hand?

Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment?

Who has established all the ends of the earth?

What is the person's name?

And what is the name of the person's child?

Surely you know!

 

[24]Four things on earth are small,

yet they are exceedingly wise:

[25]the ants are a people without strength,

yet they provide their food in the summer;

[26]the badgers are a people without power,

yet they make their homes in the rocks;

[27]the locusts have no king,

yet all of them march in rank;

[28]the lizard can be grasped in the hand,

yet it is found in kings' palaces.

 

[29]Three things are stately in their stride;

four are stately in their gait:

[30]the lion, which is mightiest among wild animals

and does not turn back before any;

[31]the strutting rooster, the he-goat,

and a king striding before his people.

 

[32]If you have been foolish, exalting yourself,

or if you have been devising evil,

put your hand on your mouth.

[33]For as pressing milk produces curds,

and pressing the nose produces blood,

so pressing anger produces strife.

Proverbs 27:1-6; 10-12

[1]Do not boast about tomorrow,

for you do not know what a day may bring.

[2]Let another praise you, and not your own mouth

a stranger, and not your own lips.

[3]A stone is heavy, and sand is weighty,

but a fool's provocation is heavier than both.

[4]Wrath is cruel, anger is overwhelming,

but who is able to stand before jealousy?

[5]Better is open rebuke

than hidden love.

[6]Well meant are the wounds a friend inflicts,

but profuse are the kisses of an enemy.

[10]Do not forsake your friend or the friend of your parent;

do not go to the house of your kindred in the day of your calamity.

Better is a neighbor who is nearby

than kindred who are far away.

[11]Be wise, my child, and make my heart glad,

so that I may answer whoever reproaches me.

[12]The clever see danger and hide;

but the simple go on, and suffer for it.

Proverbs 8:22-30

[22]The LORD created me at the beginning of his work,  

     the first of his acts of long ago.  

[23]Ages ago I was set up,  

     at the first, before the beginning of the earth.  

[24]When there were no depths I was brought forth,  

     when there were no springs abounding with water.  

[25]Before the mountains had been shaped,  

     before the hills, I was brought forth --  

[26]when he had not yet made earth and fields,  

     or the world's first bits of soil.  

[27]When he established the heavens, I was there,  

     when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,  

[28]when he made firm the skies above,  

     when he established the fountains of the deep,  

[29]when he assigned to the sea its limit,  

     so that the waters might not transgress his command,  

when he marked out the foundations of the earth,  

[30]  then I was beside him, like a master worker;  

and I was daily his delight,  

     rejoicing before him always.