Proverbs 30 — Legacy Standard Bible

Every Word of God Is Tested

30The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, the ¹oracle. The man declares to Ithiel, to Ithiel and Ucal:

²Surely I am more ^asenseless than any man,And I do not have the understanding of mankind.³Neither have I learned wisdom,Nor do I know the ^aknowledge of the Holy One.⁴Who has ^aascended into heaven and descended?Who has gathered the ^bwind in His fists?Who has ^cwrapped the waters in ¹His garment?Who has ²^,^destablished all the ends of the earth?What is His ^ename? And what is His ^fSon’s name?Surely you know!⁵Every ^aword of God is ¹tested;He is a ^bshield to those who take refuge in Him.⁶^aDo not add to His wordsLest He reprove you, and you be proved a liar.⁷Two things I asked of You,Do not withhold from me before I die:⁸Keep worthlessness and every false word far from me,Give me neither poverty nor riches;Feed me with the ^afood that is my portion,⁹Lest I be ^afull and deny ^bYou and say, “Who is Yahweh?”Or lest I be ^cimpoverished and steal,And ¹^,^dprofane the name of my God.¹⁰Do not slander a slave to his master,Lest he ^acurse you and you be found guilty.¹¹There is a generation that ^acurses its fatherAnd does not bless its mother.¹²There is a generation that is ^aclean in its own eyes,Yet is not washed from its filthiness.¹³There is a generation—oh how ^ahaughty are its eyes!And its eyelids are lifted up.¹⁴There is a generation whose ^ateeth are like swordsAnd its ^bfangs like knives,To ^cdevour the afflicted from the earthAnd the needy from among men.¹⁵The leech has two daughters,“Give,” “Give.”There are three things that will not be satisfied,Four that will not say, “Enough”:¹⁶^aSheol, and the ^bbarren womb,Earth that is never satisfied with water,And fire that never says, “Enough.”¹⁷The eye that ^amocks a fatherAnd ^bdespises obedience to a mother,The ^cravens of the valley will pick it out,And the young ^deagles will eat it.¹⁸There are three things which are too wonderful for me,Four which I do not understand:¹⁹The way of an ^aeagle in the sky,The way of a serpent on a rock,The way of a ship in the heart of the sea,And the way of a man with a virgin.²⁰This is the way of an ^aadulterous woman:She eats and wipes her mouth,And says, “I have done no wrong.”²¹Under three things the earth quakes,And under four, it cannot bear up:²²Under a ^aslave when he becomes king,And a wicked fool when he is satisfied with food,²³Under ¹an unloved woman when she gets a husband,And a servant-girl when she supplants her mistress.²⁴Four things are small on the earth,But they are exceedingly wise:²⁵The ^aants are not a strong people,But they prepare their food in the summer;²⁶The ¹^,^ashephanim are not a mighty people,Yet they make their houses in the cliff;²⁷The locusts have no king,Yet all of them go out in ^arank;²⁸The lizard you may grasp with the hands,Yet it is in kings’ palaces.²⁹There are three things which are stately in their march,Even four which are stately when they walk:³⁰The lion which is ^amighty among the animalsAnd does not ^bturn back before any,³¹The ¹strutting rooster, the male goat also,And a king when his army is with him.³²If you have been wickedly foolish in lifting yourself up,Or if you have schemed evil, ^aput your hand on your mouth.³³For pressing milk brings forth butter,And pressing the nose brings forth blood;And pressing ^aanger brings forth strife.