Family Prayer
in the Early Evening

The man declares, I am weary, O God;
    I am weary, O God, and worn out.
² Surely I am too stupid to be a man.
    I have not the understanding of a man.
³ I have not learned wisdom,
    nor have I knowledge of the Holy One.
⁴ Who has ascended to heaven and come down?
    Who has gathered the wind in his fists?
Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment?
    Who has established all the ends of the earth?
What is his name, and what is his son's name?
    Surely you know!

⁵ Every word of God proves true;
    he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
⁶ Do not add to his words,
    lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.

⁷ Two things I ask of you;
    deny them not to me before I die:
⁸ Remove far from me falsehood and lying;
    give me neither poverty nor riches;
    feed me with the food that is needful for me,
⁹ lest I be full and deny you
    and say, “Who is the Lord?”
or lest I be poor and steal
    and profane the name of my God.

¹⁵ The leech has two daughters:
    Give and Give.
Three things are never satisfied;
    four never say, “Enough”:
¹⁶ Sheol, the barren womb,
    the land never satisfied with water,
    and the fire that never says, “Enough.”

¹⁷ The eye that mocks a father
    and scorns to obey a mother
will be picked out by the ravens of the valley
    and eaten by the vultures.

¹⁸ Three things are too wonderful for me;
    four I do not understand:
¹⁹ the way of an eagle in the sky,
    the way of a serpent on a rock,
the way of a ship on the high seas,
    and the way of a man with a virgin.

²⁰ This is the way of an adulteress:
    she eats and wipes her mouth
    and says, “I have done no wrong.”

²¹ Under three things the earth trembles;
    under four it cannot bear up:
²² a slave when he becomes king,
    and a fool when he is filled with food;
²³ an unloved woman when she gets a husband,
    and a maidservant when she displaces her mistress.

²⁴ Four things on earth are small,
    but they are exceedingly wise:
²⁵ the ants are a people not strong,
    yet they provide their food in the summer;
²⁶ the rock badgers are a people not mighty,
    yet they make their homes in the cliffs;
²⁷ the locusts have no king,
    yet all of them march in rank;
²⁸ the lizard you can take in your hands,
    yet it is in kings' palaces.

²⁹ Three things are stately in their tread;
    four are stately in their stride:
³⁰ the lion, which is mightiest among beasts
    and does not turn back before any;
³¹ the strutting rooster, the he-goat,
    and a king whose army is with him.

³² If you have been foolish, exalting yourself,
    or if you have been devising evil,
    put your hand on your mouth.
³³ For pressing milk produces curds,
    pressing the nose produces blood,
    and pressing anger produces strife.