Proverbs 30:7-17

7 I ask you, God, to let me have two things before I die:

8 keep me from lying, and let me be neither rich nor poor. So give me only as much food as I need.

9 If I have more, I might say that I do not need you. But if I am poor, I might steal and bring disgrace on my God.

10 Never criticize servants to their master. You will be cursed and suffer for it.

11 There are people who curse their fathers and do not show their appreciation for their mothers.

12 There are people who think they are pure when they are as filthy as they can be.

13 There are people who think they are so good - oh, how good they think they are!

14 There are people who take cruel advantage of the poor and needy; that is the way they make their living.

15 A leech has two daughters, and both are named "Give me!" There are four things that are never satisfied:

16 the world of the dead, a woman without children, dry ground that needs rain, and a fire burning out of control.

17 If you make fun of your father or despise your mother in her old age, you ought to be eaten by vultures or have your eyes picked out by wild ravens.

Proverbs 30:7-17 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]. [One ancient translation] mother in her old age; [Hebrew] mother's obedience.