¹⁵ The leech has two daughters: “Give, Give!”
Three things^(A) are never satisfied;
four never say, “Enough!”:
¹⁶ Sheol;^(B) a childless womb;^(C)
earth, which is never satisfied with water;
and fire, which never says, “Enough!”

¹⁷ As for the eye that ridicules a father^(D)
and despises obedience to a mother,
may ravens of the valley pluck it out
and young vultures eat it.^(E)

¹⁸ Three things are too wondrous for me;^(F)
four I can’t understand:
¹⁹ the way of an eagle in the sky,
the way of a snake on a rock,
the way of a ship at sea,
and the way of a man with a young woman.

²⁰ This is the way of an adulteress:
she eats and wipes her mouth
and says, “I’ve done nothing wrong.”^(G)

²¹ The earth trembles under three things;
it cannot bear up under four:
²² a servant when he becomes king,^(H)
a fool when he is stuffed with food,
²³ an unloved woman when she marries,^(I)
and a servant girl when she ousts her queen.

²⁴ Four things on earth are small,
yet they are extremely wise:
²⁵ ants are not a strong people,
yet they store up their food in the summer;^(J)
26 hyraxes are not a mighty people,
yet they make their homes in the cliffs;^(K)
27 locusts have no king,
yet all of them march in ranks;^(L)
28 a lizard^[a] can be caught in your hands,
yet it lives in kings’ palaces.

²⁹ Three things are stately in their stride;
four are stately in their walk: