More wise sayings

10 Do not ◄slander/say bad things about► a worker to his boss;

if you do that, the worker will curse you, and cause you to have trouble.

11 I will list four kinds of evil things that people do:

Some people curse their fathers and do not ask God to bless their mothers.

12 Some people think that they are perfect,

but really they have never been cleansed from their guilt for committing disgusting sins.

13 Some people are very proud;

they think that they are very good and they despise others.

14 Some people act very cruelly toward others;

it is as though [MET] they have teeth that are like sharp knives;

they severely oppress poor people

and try to cause them to disappear from the land.

15 Leeches are always wanting more blood to suck;

similarly, greedy people are always saying “Give me some!” or “Give me more!” [MET]

There are four things that are never ◄satisfied/content with what they have►;

they always want more [LIT]:

16 The place where the dead people are;

women who do not have any children;

ground that needs water/rain;

and a fire that always needs more wood.

17 Those who [SYN] make fun of their fathers

or refuse to obey their mothers (OR, despise their aged mothers)

should die and have their eyes pecked out by crows,

and the rest of their corpses should be fed to the vultures.

18 There are four things that are wonderful to me,

but I do not understand any of them:

19 How eagles fly in the sky,

how snakes are able to move/crawl across a big rock,

how ships sail on the seas,

and how a man falls in love with a woman.

20 This is what a woman who ◄is not faithful to/does not have sex only with► her husband does:

She commits adultery [EUP], and then bathes

and says, “I have not done anything that is wrong!”

21 There are four things that no one in the world can tolerate:

22 What a slave does who becomes a king,

a foolish person eating too much food,

23 what a woman who is hated does when she gets married,

and what a female servant does when she becomes the boss instead of her mistress.

24 There are four animals on the earth that are small, but they are very wise:

25 Ants are not strong,

but they store up food during the summer in order to have it during the winter.

26 Rock badgers also are not strong,

but they make their homes among the rocks where they will be safe.

27 Locusts do not have a king,

but they march like the soldiers in an army.

28 Lizards/Geckos are very small and you can hold them in your hand,

but they are cleverly able to get inside kings’ palaces.

29 There are four animals that strut around and look very impressive while they walk [DOU]:

30 Lions, which are stronger than all other animals

and are not afraid of any of them;

31 male goats, strutting roosters,

and kings who ◄parade/walk proudly back and forth► in front of the people whom they rule.

32 If you have acted foolishly, exalting yourself,

or if you been planning to do something evil,

stop it immediately [IDM]!

33 If you churn milk, it produces butter/curds,

and if you hit someone hard on his nose, his nose bleeds;

similarly, if you do something to cause people to become angry, strife usually results.