Proverbs 30:21-31

21 Under three [things] the earth is disquieted, and under four it cannot bear up:

22 Under a servant when he reigneth, and a churl when he is filled with meat;

23 under an odious [woman] when she is married, and a handmaid when she is heir to her mistress.

24 There are four [things] little upon the earth, and they are exceeding wise:

25 The ants, a people not strong, yet they provide their food in the summer;

26 the rock-badgers are but a feeble folk, yet they make their house in the cliff;

27 the locusts have no king, yet they go forth all of them by bands;

28 thou takest hold of the lizard with the hands, yet is she in kings' palaces.

29 There are three [things] which have a stately step, and four are comely in going:

30 The lion, mighty among beasts, which turneth not away for any;

31 a [horse] girt in the loins; or the he-goat; and a king, against whom none can rise up.

Proverbs 30:21-31 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]. Or 'fool,' 'vile person,' Nabal: see ch. 1.7.
• [b]. See Lev. 11.5; Ps. 104.18.
• [c]. Strictly, 'an old lion:' see Job 4.11.
• [d]. Possibly, 'a war-horse.'