There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise:
There be four (things) ... little upon the earth (i:e., among the smallest things upon earth),
But ... exceeding wise - Hebrew, 'wise, made wise;' endowed with natural instinct for their preservation.
Verse 25. The ants - (Proverbs 6:6 , etc., notes.) ... a people - (Joel 1:4 ) not strong - as compared with man-whence the Arabs have a proverb, 'Feebler than an ant;' but most strong in proportion to their own size, as the large burdens which they carry show: whence the other Arab proverb arises, 'Stronger than an ant.' The Egyptians made the ant the hieroglyphic for knowledge; and the Arabs put one in the hand of a boy at his birth with the prayer, 'May he turn out ingenious and skillful.' Therefore none can excuse himself from labour, on the ground of having a small and feeble body.
They prepare their meat in the summer. In Zante it is well authenticated that quantities of grain have been removed from the threshing-floors to the nests of ants.