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These things says the man to them that trust in God; and I cease.
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For I am the most simple of all men, and there is not in me the wisdom of men.
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God has taught me wisdom, and I know the knowledge of the holy.
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Who has gone up to heaven, and come down? who has gathered the winds in his * bosom? who has wrapped up the waters in a garment? who has dominion of all the ends of the earth? what is his name? or what is the name of his children?
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For all the words of God are tried in the fire, and he defends those that reverence him.
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Add not to his words, lest he reprove you, and you be made a liar.
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Two things I ask of you; take not favor from me before I die.
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Remove far from me vanity and falsehood: and give me not wealth or poverty; but appoint me what is needful and sufficient:
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lest I be filled and become false, and say, Who sees me? or be poor and steal, and swear vainly by the name of God.
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Deliver not a servant into the hands of his master, lest he curse you, and you be utterly destroyed.
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A wicked generation curse their father, and do not bless their mother.
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A wicked generation judge themselves to be just, but do not cleanse their way.
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A wicked generation have lofty eyes, and exalt themselves with their eyelids.
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A wicked generation have swords for teeth and jaw teeth as knives, so as to destroy and devour the lowly from the earth, and the poor of them from among men.
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The horse-leech had three dearly beloved daughters: and these three did not satisfy her; and the fourth was not contented so as to say, Enough.
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The grave, and the love of a woman, and the earth not filled with water; water also and fire will not say, It is enough.
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The eye that laughs to scorn a father, and dishonors the old age of a mother, let the ravens of the valleys pick it out, and let the young eagles devour it.
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Moreover there are three things impossible for me to comprehend, and the fourth I know not:
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the track of a flying eagle; and the ways of a serpent on a rock; and the paths of a ship passing through the sea; and the ways of a man in youth.
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Such is the way of an adulterous woman, who having washed herself from what she has done, says she has done nothing * amiss.
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By three things the earth is troubled, and the fourth it can’t bear:
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if a servant reign; or a fool be filled with food;
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or if a maidservant should cast out her own mistress; and if a hateful woman should marry a good man.
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And there are four very little things upon the earth, but these are wiser than the wise:
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the ants which are weak, and yet prepare their food in summer;
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the rabbits also are a feeble race, who make their houses in the rocks.
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The locusts have no king, and yet march orderly at one command.
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And the eft, which supports itself by its hands, and is easily taken, dwells in the fortresses of kings.
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And there are three things which go well, and a fourth which passes along finely.
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A lion's whelp, stronger than all other beasts, which turns not away, nor fears any beast;
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and a cock walking in boldly among the hens, and the goat leading the herd; and a king publicly speaking before a nation.
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If you abandon yourself to mirth, and stretch forth your hand in a quarrel, you shall be disgraced.
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Milk out milk, and there shall be butter, and if you wing one's nostrils there shall come out blood: so if you extort words, there will come forth quarrels and strifes