The Words of Agur

1The words of Agur son of Jakeh—the burden. An utterance of the strong man to Ithiel; to Ithiel and Ucal.†

2“Surely I am more brutish than man,

and the understanding of man is not unto me.

3And I have not learned wisdom

or known the knowledge of holy ones.

4Who has gone up to the heavens and descended?

Who has gathered the wind in His fists?

Who has bound the waters in His cloak?

Who has established all the ends of the earth?

What is His name, and what is the name of His Son?

Surely you must know!

5Every word of God is refined;

He is a shield for those taking refuge in Him.

6Do not add to His words,

lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar.

7Two things I have asked of You—

do not withhold them from me before I die:

8Put vanity and the word of a lie far away from me;

do not give poverty or wealth to me;

provide me the bread of my portion,

9lest I become satisfied

and I deny and say, ‘Who is YHWH?’

And lest I become dispossessed and steal,

and I seize the name of my God.

10Do not slander a servant to his master,

lest he curse you and you be found guilty.

11A generation lightly esteems its father,

and does not bless its mother.

12A generation is pure in its own eyes

and yet has not been washed from its filth.

13A generation—how high its eyes,

and its eyelids are lifted up!

14A generation—its teeth are swords

and its fangs are knives,

to devour the poor from the earth,

and needy ones from mankind.

15Unto the leech are two daughters—

‘Give, and Give.

Three things are never satisfied, four never say, ‘Enough!’:

16Sheol,

and the barren womb,

earth not satisfied with water,

and the fire never having said, ‘Enough!’

17The eye that mocks at a father

and despises obedience to a mother—

the ravens of the valley will dig it out,

and the young eagles will eat it.

18Three things, they are wonderful for me, and four, I cannot know them:

19The way of an eagle in the heavens,

the way of a snake on a rock,

the way of a ship in the midst of the sea,

and the way of a man with a maiden.

20This is the way of a woman committing adultery:

She eats and has wiped her mouth

and has said, ‘I have not done wickedness.’

21For three things the earth has trembled, and for four it is not able to bear up:

22Under a servant when he becomes king,

and a fool when he is filled with food,

23under a hated woman when she is married,

and a maidservant when she dispossesses her mistress.

24Four things, they are small on the earth; they are wiser than wise:

25The ants are a people not strong, and they prepare their food in the summer;

26the rock badgers† are a people not strong, and they set their home in the cliffs;

27a king is not unto the locust, and go they forth in formation, all of them;

28the lizard can be caught in one’s hands, and it is in the palaces of king.

29Three things, they are are doing well of step, even four are doing well in the walk:

30A lion, mighty among the beasts, and it does not turn back from the face of anything;

31one girded of loins,

or a he-goat,

and a king with his army around him.†

32If you have been foolish in lifting up yourself,

and if you have schemed—

hand to mouth!

33For as the churning of milk brings forth butter,

and pressing of the nose brings forth blood,

so the pressing of anger brings forth strife.”