The Words of Agur

Agur opens by naming himself and confessing his own ignorance and lack of wisdom before the mysteries of God's rule over heaven and earth. Against human limitation stands the flawless word of God, which serves as a shield to those who take refuge in him and must not be supplemented by presumptuous additions.

T¹hese are the words of Agur son of Jakeh — the burden that this man declared to Ithiel: ²Surely I am the most ignorant of men, ³I have not learned wisdom, ⁴Who has ascended to heaven and come down? ⁵Every word of God is flawless; ⁶Do not add to His words,

Agur asks God for two gifts before he dies: distance from falsehood and a life free from both poverty and excess, so that he neither denies God in pride nor profanes him in want. He then adds a warning against slandering a servant to his master, showing that truthful restraint belongs in ordinary speech as well as prayer.

⁷Two things I ask of You — ⁸Keep falsehood and deceitful words far from me. ⁹Otherwise, I may have too much ¹⁰Do not slander a servant to his master,

A series of corrupt generations is described: those who dishonor parents, imagine themselves pure, look down on others with pride, and consume the poor with predatory hunger. The sayings then widen into images of insatiable appetite and end by warning that contempt for father and mother invites shameful judgment.

¹¹There is a generation of those who curse their fathers ¹²There is a generation of those who are pure in their own eyes ¹³There is a generation— how haughty are their eyes ¹⁴there is a generation whose teeth are swords ¹⁵The leech has two daughters: ¹⁶Sheol, ¹⁷As for the eye that mocks a father

Agur marvels at four things too wonderful to trace fully: the path of an eagle, a serpent, a ship, and a man with a maiden. He then sets beside these mysteries the hardened way of the adulteress, who commits evil and brushes it off as though nothing happened.

¹⁸There are three things too wonderful for me, four that I cannot understand: ¹⁹the way of an eagle in the sky, ²⁰This is the way of an adulteress:

The earth is said to tremble under certain reversals it cannot bear well: a servant turned king, a fool glutted with food, a resentful woman who finally marries, and a maid who displaces her mistress. These examples portray disorder that arises when power, satisfaction, and status are seized without wisdom.

²¹Under three things the earth trembles, under four it cannot bear up: ²²a servant who becomes king, ²³an unloved woman who marries,

Agur next points to four small creatures that display remarkable wisdom: ants store up food, rock badgers find secure shelter, locusts move in ordered ranks without a king, and a lizard reaches even into royal palaces. Wisdom is thus shown in creaturely foresight, refuge, coordination, and persistence rather than in size or visible power.

²⁴Four things on earth are small, yet they are exceedingly wise: ²⁵The ants are creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer; ²⁶the rock badgers are creatures of little power, yet they make their homes in the rocks; ²⁷the locusts have no king, yet they all advance in formation; ²⁸and the lizard can be caught in one’s hands, yet it is found in the palaces of kings.

The chapter closes by listing four beings marked by stately bearing, including the lion and others that move with settled confidence. It then warns that self-exaltation and scheming should be stopped before they erupt, because just as physical pressure produces visible results, stirred anger yields strife.

²⁹There are three things that are stately in their stride, and four that are impressive in their walk: ³⁰a lion, mighty among beasts, refusing to retreat before anything; ³¹a strutting rooster; ³²If you have foolishly exalted yourself ³³For as the churning of milk yields butter,