Proverbs 30
The Words of Agur
1 The words of Agur son of Jakeh. The oracle. ▼ , bThe man’s oration to Ithiel, to Ithiel and Ucal: ▼
▼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.
2 I am more stupid than any other man, ▼
▼Lit I am more stupid than a man
and I lack man’s ability to understand. e
3 I have not gained wisdom,
and I have no knowledge of the Holy One. f
4 Who has gone up to heaven and come down? g
Who has gathered the wind in His hands?
Who has bound up the waters in a cloak? h
Who has established all the ends of the earth? i
What is His name,
and what is the name of His Son –
if you know? j
5 Every word of God is pure; ▼
▼Lit refined
,
lHe is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. m
6 Don’t add to His words, n
or He will rebuke you, and you will be proved a liar. o
7 Two things I ask of You;
don’t deny them to me before I die:
8 Keep falsehood and deceitful words far from me.
Give me neither poverty nor wealth;
feed me with the food I need. p
9 Otherwise, I might have too much q
and deny You, r saying, “Who is the Lord?” s
or I might have nothing and steal, t
profaning ▼
▼Lit grabbing
the name of my God. v 10 Don’t slander a servant to his master
or he will curse you, w and you will become ▼
▼guilt/guilty: The liability to be punished for a fault, a sin, an act, or an omission unless there is forgiveness or atonement; the term normally concerns an objective fact, not a subjective feeling.
guilty. 11 There is a generation that curses its father
and does not bless its mother. y
12 There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes, z
yet is not washed from its filth.
13 There is a generation – how haughty its eyes
and pretentious its looks. ▼
▼Lit and its eyelids lifted up
14 There is a generation whose teeth are swords, ab
whose fangs are knives, ac
devouring the oppressed from the land ad
and the needy from among mankind.
15 The leech has two daughters: “Give, Give!”
Three things ae are never satisfied;
four never say, “Enough!”:
16 ▼
▼Sheol: A Hebrew word for either the grave or the realm of the dead
Sheol; ag a childless womb; ahearth, which is never satisfied with water;
and fire, which never says, “Enough!”
17 As for the eye that ridicules a father ai
and despises obedience to a mother,
may ravens of the valley pluck it out
and young vultures eat it. aj
18 Three things are beyond me;
four I can’t understand:
19 the 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.
20 This is the way of an adulteress:
she eats and wipes her mouth
and says, “I’ve done nothing wrong.” ak
21 The earth trembles under three things;
it cannot bear up under four:
22 a servant when he becomes king, al
a fool when he is stuffed with food,
23 an unloved woman when she marries, am
and a servant girl when she ousts her queen.
24 Four things on earth are small,
yet they are extremely wise:
25 the ants are not a strong people,
yet they store up their food in the summer; an
26 hyraxes are not a mighty people,
yet they make their homes in the cliffs; ao
27 locusts have no king,
yet all of them march in ranks; ap
28 a lizard ▼
▼Or spider
can be caught in your hands,yet it lives in kings’ palaces.
29 Three things are stately in their stride,
even four are stately in their walk:
30 a lion, which is mightiest among beasts
and doesn’t retreat before anything,
31 a strutting rooster, ▼
▼Or a greyhound
a goat,and a king at the head of his army. ▼
▼LXX reads king addressing his people
32 If you have been foolish by exalting yourself
or if you’ve been scheming,
put your hand over your mouth. at
33 For the churning of milk produces butter,
and twisting a nose draws blood,
and stirring up anger produces strife. au
Copyright information for
HCSB