17. The eye that mocks a father and scorns the obedience of a mother— the ravens of the valley will peck it out, and the offspring of vultures will eat it.
18. Three of these are too wonderful for me, and four, I do not understand them:
19. the way of the eagle in the sky, the way of a snake on a rock, the way of a ship in the heart of the sea, and the way of a man with a young woman.
20. This is the way of a woman committing adultery: she eats and wipes her mouth, and says “I have not done wrong.”
21. Under three things the earth trembles, and under four, it is not able to bear up:
22. under a slave when he becomes king, and a fool when he is satisfied with food;
23. under an unloved woman when she gets married, and a maid when she succeeds her mistress.
24. There are four small things on the earth, and they are exceedingly wise:
25. The ants are a people who are not strong, yet they prepare their food in the summer;
26. the badgers are a people who are not mighty, yet they set their house on the rock;
27. there is no king for the locust, yet it marches in rank;
28. a lizard you can seize with hands, yet it is in palaces of kings.
29. There are three things that are magnificent of stride, and four that are magnificent when moving:
30. a mighty lion among the beasts, but he will not turn back from any face;
31. a strutting rooster or he-goat, and a king whose army is with him.