Proverbs 30:11-21

11 Some people curse their father and do not thank their mother.

12 They are pure in their own eyes, but they are filthy and unwashed.

13 They look proudly around, casting disdainful glances.

14 They have teeth like swords and fangs like knives. They devour the poor from the earth and the needy from among humanity.

15 The leech has two suckers that cry out, “More, more!” There are three things that are never satisfied— no, four that never say, “Enough!”:

16 the grave, the barren womb, the thirsty desert, the blazing fire.

17 The eye that mocks a father and despises a mother’s instructions will be plucked out by ravens of the valley and eaten by vultures.

18 There are three things that amaze me— no, four things that I don’t understand:

19 how an eagle glides through the sky, how a snake slithers on a rock, how a ship navigates the ocean, how a man loves a woman.

20 An adulterous woman consumes a man, then wipes her mouth and says, “What’s wrong with that?”

21 There are three things that make the earth tremble— no, four it cannot endure:

Proverbs 30:11-21 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 17

This chapter begins with a prophecy of Elijah, that there should be want of rain for some years to come, and he is directed to go first to the brook Cherith, where he should be fed by ravens, 1Ki 17:1-7, and afterwards he is sent to a widow at Zarephath, where he, she, and her son, were supported for a considerable time with a handful of meal, and a little oil in a cruse miraculously increased, 1Ki 17:8-16, whose son falling sick and dying, he restored to life, 1Ki 17:17-24.

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew two daughters who cry out, “Give, give!”
• [b]. Hebrew Sheol.