The title ends with a question mark because there are some parts of the “chiasm” that do not seem to have much in common. But other features point to the familiar symmetrical pairing of passages around a central point.
I’ve shown the structure of the chiasm below, but some comments are in order.
The number of verses in each pair of paragraphs is the same.
Verses 5-6 and 32-33 are about foolish talking.
Verses 10-14 may not seem at first glance to have much in common with verses 24-28, but numbers and counting obviously play an important role in the chapter. Verses 10-14 list four generations, and verses 24-28 depart from the formula “There are three things… four things.” The paragraph begins simply, “There are four things…”
Verses 15-17 and 21-23 pair because they are both negative things: things that are not satisfied and things that perturb the earth.
Verses 18-20, four wonderful things, contain the only personal reference in the three/four pattern: they are too wonderful “for me.” These verses stand appropriately at the center of the chiasm.
There’s one more thing that is subtle but may also point towards a chiastic structure. The passage has a somewhat symmetrical arrangement of the genders of the Hebrew numbers. The best way to illustrate this is to begin at the center, verses 18-20; the number “three” is masculine and “four” is feminine. In 15-17 and 21-23, the numbers are all feminine. In 10-14 and 24-28, the numbers are all masculine.
This correspondence breaks down in 7-9 (feminine gender) and 29-31 (masculine gender), but there may be a reason for that. These two paragraphs also do not correspond well in subject matter or number. Verses 7-9 are about the leech’s two daughters, and verses 29-31 about the four things that move well. The change in gender may deliberately call attention to the lack of correspondence in these two parts of the chiasm.
Proverbs-30-Chiasm