Proverbs 30
Living Bible
30 These are the messages of Agur, son of Jakeh, addressed to Ithiel and Ucal:
2 I am tired out, O God, and ready to die. I am too stupid even to call myself a human being! 3 I cannot understand man,[a] let alone God. 4 Who else but God goes back and forth to heaven? Who else holds the wind in his fists and wraps up the oceans in his cloak? Who but God has created the world? If there is any other, what is his name—and his Son’s name—if you know it?
5 Every word of God proves true. He defends all who come to him for protection. 6 Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you, and you be found a liar.
7 O God, I beg two favors from you before I die: 8 First, help me never to tell a lie. Second, give me neither poverty nor riches! Give me just enough to satisfy my needs! 9 For if I grow rich, I may become content without God. And if I am too poor, I may steal and thus insult God’s holy name.
10 Never falsely accuse a man to his employer, lest he curse you for your sin.
11-12 There are those who curse their father and mother and feel themselves faultless despite their many sins. 13-14 They are proud beyond description, arrogant, disdainful. They devour the poor with teeth as sharp as knives!
15-16 There are two things never satisfied, like a leech forever craving more: no, three things! no, four! Hell, the barren womb, a barren desert, fire.
17 A man who mocks his father and despises his mother shall have his eye plucked out by ravens and eaten by vultures.
18-19 There are three things too wonderful for me to understand—no, four!
How an eagle glides through the sky.
How a serpent crawls upon a rock.
How a ship finds its way across the heaving ocean.
The growth of love between a man and a girl.[b]
20 There is another thing too: how a prostitute can sin and then say, “What’s wrong with that?”
21-23 There are three things that make the earth tremble—no, four it cannot stand:
A slave who becomes a king.
A rebel who prospers.
A bitter woman when she finally marries.
A servant girl who marries the husband of her mistress.[c]
24-28 There are four things that are small but unusually wise:
Ants: they aren’t strong, but store up food for the winter.
Cliff badgers: delicate little animals who protect themselves by living among the rocks.
The locusts: though they have no leader, they stay together in swarms.
The lizards: they are easy to catch and kill, yet are found even in king’s palaces!
29-31 There are three stately monarchs in the earth—no, four:
The lion, king of the animals. He won’t turn aside for anyone.
The peacock.
The male goat.
A king as he leads his army.
32 If you have been a fool by being proud or plotting evil, don’t brag about it—cover your mouth with your hand in shame.
33 As the churning of cream yields butter, and a blow to the nose causes bleeding, so anger causes quarrels.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 30:3 I cannot understand man, literally, “I have not learned wisdom.”
- Proverbs 30:18 The growth of love between a man and a girl, literally, “The way of a man with a maid.” Some linguists believe the meaning is, “Why a girl will let herself be seduced.”
- Proverbs 30:21 who marries the husband of her mistress, literally, “who succeeds her mistress.”
Proverbs 30
King James Version
30 The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, even the prophecy: the man spake unto Ithiel, even unto Ithiel and Ucal,
2 Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man.
3 I neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the holy.
4 Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? who hath gathered the wind in his fists? who hath bound the waters in a garment? who hath established all the ends of the earth? what is his name, and what is his son's name, if thou canst tell?
5 Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.
6 Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.
7 Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die:
8 Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:
9 Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.
10 Accuse not a servant unto his master, lest he curse thee, and thou be found guilty.
11 There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother.
12 There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness.
13 There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up.
14 There is a generation, whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men.
15 The horseleach hath two daughters, crying, Give, give. There are three things that are never satisfied, yea, four things say not, It is enough:
16 The grave; and the barren womb; the earth that is not filled with water; and the fire that saith not, It is enough.
17 The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.
18 There be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I know not:
19 The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maid.
20 Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.
21 For three things the earth is disquieted, and for four which it cannot bear:
22 For a servant when he reigneth; and a fool when he is filled with meat;
23 For an odious woman when she is married; and an handmaid that is heir to her mistress.
24 There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise:
25 The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer;
26 The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks;
27 The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands;
28 The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings' palaces.
29 There be three things which go well, yea, four are comely in going:
30 A lion which is strongest among beasts, and turneth not away for any;
31 A greyhound; an he goat also; and a king, against whom there is no rising up.
32 If thou hast done foolishly in lifting up thyself, or if thou hast thought evil, lay thine hand upon thy mouth.
33 Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood: so the forcing of wrath bringeth forth strife.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.