30
The Words of Agur
1The words of Agur son of Jakeh. The pronouncement.#30:1 Or son of Jakeh from Massa; Pr 31:1#Nm 24:3; Pr 31:1; Nah 1:1; Hab 1:1; Zch 9:1; Mal 1:1
The man’s oration to Ithiel, to Ithiel and Ucal:#30:1 Hb uncertain. Sometimes read with different word division as oration: I am weary, God, I am weary, God, and I am exhausted, or oration: I am not God, I am not God, that I should prevail. LXX reads My son, fear my words and when you have received them repent. The man says these things to the believers in God, and I pause.
2I am more stupid than any other person,#30:2 Lit I am more stupid than a man
and I lack a human’s ability to understand.#1Kg 3:7
3I have not gained wisdom,
and I have no knowledge of the Holy One.#Pr 9:10
4Who has gone up to heaven and come down?#Jn 3:13; Eph 4:9–10
Who has gathered the wind in his hands?
Who has bound up the waters in a cloak?#Jb 26:8; 38:9
Who has established all the ends of the earth?#Jb 38:4–5; Ps 93:1; 119:90; Is 45:18
What is his name,
and what is the name of his son —
if you know?#Mt 11:27; Rv 19:12–13
5Every word of God is pure;#30:5 Lit refined#Ps 12:6; 18:30
he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.#Ps 3:3
6Don’t add to his words,#Dt 4:2; 12:32; Rv 22:18
or he will rebuke you, and you will be proved a liar.#Dt 18:22
7Two things I ask of you;
don’t deny them to me before I die:
8Keep falsehood and deceitful words far from me.
Give me neither poverty nor wealth;
feed me with the food I need.#Jb 23:12; Mt 6:11; Php 4:11–12
9Otherwise, I might have too much#Dt 6:10–12; 8:11–14
and deny you,#Jos 24:27; Jb 31:28 saying, “Who is the Lord?” #Ex 5:2
or I might have nothing and steal,#Ex 20:5; Eph 4:28
profaning#30:9 Lit grabbing the name of my God.#Lv 19:11–12
10Don’t slander a servant to his master
or he will curse you,#Ec 7:21 and you will become guilty.
11There is a generation that curses its father
and does not bless its mother.#Ex 21:17; Pr 20:20
12There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes,#Pr 16:2; Lk 18:11
yet is not washed from its filth.
13There is a generation — how haughty its eyes
and pretentious its looks.#30:13 Lit and its eyelids lifted up
14There is a generation whose teeth are swords,#Ps 57:4
whose fangs are knives,#Jb 29:17
devouring the oppressed from the land#Ps 14:4
and the needy from among mankind.
15The leech has two daughters: “Give, Give!”
Three things#Pr 6:16; 30:18,21,29 are never satisfied;
four never say, “Enough!”:
16Sheol;#Pr 27:20; Hab 2:5 a childless womb;#Gn 30:1
earth, which is never satisfied with water;
and fire, which never says, “Enough!”
17As for the eye that ridicules a father#Gn 9:22
and despises obedience to a mother,
may ravens of the valley pluck it out
and young vultures eat it.#Dt 28:26
18Three things are too wondrous for me;#Jb 42:3; Ps 131; 139:6
four I can’t understand:
19the way of an eagle in the sky,
the way of a snake on a rock,
the way of a ship at sea,
and the way of a man with a young woman.
20This is the way of an adulteress:
she eats and wipes her mouth
and says, “I’ve done nothing wrong.”#Pr 28:24; 1Jn 1:8
21The earth trembles under three things;
it cannot bear up under four:
22a servant when he becomes king,#Pr 19:10; Ec 10:7
a fool when he is stuffed with food,
23an unloved woman when she marries,#Gn 29:30–31; Dt 21:15
and a servant girl when she ousts her queen.
24Four things on earth are small,
yet they are extremely wise:
25ants are not a strong people,
yet they store up their food in the summer;#Pr 6:6–8
26hyraxes are not a mighty people,
yet they make their homes in the cliffs;#Lv 11:5; Ps 104:18
27locusts have no king,
yet all of them march in ranks;#Jl 2:7–8
28a lizard#30:28 Or spider can be caught in your hands,
yet it lives in kings’ palaces.
29Three things are stately in their stride;
four are stately in their walk:
30a lion, which is mightiest among beasts
and doesn’t retreat before anything;
31a strutting rooster;#30:31 Or a greyhound a goat;
and a king at the head of his army.#30:31 LXX reads king addressing his people
32If you have been foolish by exalting yourself
or if you’ve been scheming,
put your hand over your mouth.#Jb 21:5; Mc 7:16
33For the churning of milk produces butter,
and twisting a nose draws blood,
and stirring up anger produces strife.#Pr 10:12; 29:22