Proverbschapter 30
33 verses · Solomon and others · 10th to 5th century BC · Wisdom and poetry
The leech has two daughters: Give and Give. There are three things that are never satisfied, four that never say, ‘Enough!’:
Introduction
Solomon and others, Wisdom and poetry, Proverbs Overview.
This chapter is signed by a man named Agur, of whom nothing else is known, and it stands apart from the sayings of Solomon around it. He may have been a wise man from outside Israel whose words Israel kept, since the word joined to his name can be read as the name of a people in northern Arabia. He speaks as a man humbled before the greatness of God. Listen for his counted sayings, three things and then a fourth, where the last item carries the weight. Watch the small creatures he names, which he chose to teach about strength and weakness.
Context
- Who
- Israelites who could be shown God's greatness in very small animals
- What
- The words of Agur: a confession before God, a prayer for daily bread, and counted sayings on the wonders and wrongs of the world.
- Where
- The land and its wild edges, watched closely, where ants, rock badgers, locusts and lizards live.
- When
- Undated; Agur's words were gathered into the book with the collections before them.
- Why
- To humble the hearer before God's word and to teach wisdom from what can be seen in creation.
Historical context
The chapter is signed by someone other than Solomon: "the words of Agur the son of Jakeh." Nothing else is known about him. The Hebrew word rendered "the prophecy" or "the burden" can also be read as a place name, Massa, a north Arabian tribe listed among Ishmael's sons, which would make Agur a wise man from outside Israel whose words Israel recognised as true and preserved. The traditional Jewish reading takes Agur as another name for Solomon himself. The text does not settle it, and honesty is better than a guess.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
The numbered sayings, "three things… yea, four", use a form found across the ancient Near East, including in the Ugaritic poems from Ras Shamra. The count is a teaching hook: you listen through the list waiting for the last item, which carries the weight.
The four small creatures are observed, not invented. Harvester ants really do stockpile seed through the summer. The conies are rock hyraxes, rabbit-sized animals that live in colonies in cliff crevices and bolt into the rock at any shadow. Locusts have no king yet swarm in a front that can strip a region, Israel had seen it. The lizard runs on walls and turns up inside palaces.
"Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me" is a prayer with two named dangers: a full man says "who is the LORD?" and a starving man steals and drags God's name into court with a false oath.
Significance
Agur opens by confessing he is too stupid to have figured God out, "who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended?", and then points at the book instead: "every word of God is pure… add thou not unto his words."
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
For the first hearers, the effect of the animal lists was humbling in a specific way. The ants, the hyraxes, the locusts, and the lizard are all weak, and all of them manage. The proverb makes strength look less impressive than it did an hour ago.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
No public reading in the synagogue is drawn from this chapter. The site's own table in src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts was probed for this lane over Proverbs 16 to 31. It printed parashot total 0, haftarah uses total 0 and 0 chapters with a synagogue reading. It printed null for a festival reading of the book. The same probe printed 54 weekly portions and 6 festival readings in the table as a whole. The corpus ties no custom of the home or the synagogue to this chapter, so this part records the absence.
The chapter is met in the study of the Midrash and the Talmud instead. The corpus links it to twenty-four collections. The two it cites most often here are Midrash Mishlei and Midrash Aggadah.
How it is read
Rashi is quoted here from The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, which Sefaria reports as CC-BY. Every quotation is held to fifty words or fewer because the translation is modern. The book's heading at the first verse names Agur son of Jakeh, and the book dossier this site carries records the last two chapters as the words of men who are not Solomon. Rashi gives the reading of the Sages, who read the names as Solomon's: "the words of Solomon, who gathered (אגר) understanding (בינה) and vomited it (והקיאה). The Sages interpreted it in this manner" (Rashi on Proverbs 30:1:1). The heading's own name, Agur, stands in the text beside that reading.
Rashi then reads the confession of the next verses as Solomon's regret for relying on his own wisdom. He did not know the knowledge of the holy, "for I subtracted or added to the words of Moses" (Rashi on Proverbs 30:3:1). His note on the fourth verse is one question: "Who ascended to heaven like Moses?" (Rashi on Proverbs 30:4:1). At the fifth he says every word of God is refined and "He did not write anything unnecessary" (Rashi on Proverbs 30:5:1).
At the tenth verse he warns against accusing even a wicked man before God, and gives as proof the passage of Pesachim 87b on Hosea son of Beeri (Rashi on Proverbs 30:10:1). The leech of the fifteenth verse carries a disagreement he sets out himself. Menachem reads the word in its apparent meaning, "but the commentators say that it is an expression of the grave and the descent". Midrash Psalms 31:9 reads the two daughters as Paradise and Gehinnom (Rashi on Proverbs 30:15:1).
The corpus carries seven further notes on this chapter without an English text, each marked linked because Sefaria holds no English version of the ref. They are cited by ref alone: Ibn Ezra on Proverbs 30:11:1, 30:19:1, 30:21:1, 30:22:1 and 30:24:1 and Metzudat David on Proverbs 30:12:1 and 30:23:1.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries forty rabbinic locators on this chapter, thirty-one filed as Midrash and nine as Talmud, and the text of none, so each is cited here by its ref and never quoted or paraphrased. At verse 1 it holds Avot DeRabbi Natan 39:4, with Midrash Lekach Tov, Deuteronomy 32:27:1. At verse 2 it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 10:4, with Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Sanhedrin 8:3. At verse 4 it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 12:11, with Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Bereshit 50. At verse 5 it holds Midrash Aggadah, Leviticus 12:4:2, with Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Lech Lecha 14:1. At verse 6 it holds Bereshit Rabbah 19:3, with Ein Yaakov, Megillah 1:10. At verse 7 it holds Midrash Mishlei 30:3 and Midrash Tehillim 27:4. At verse 8 it holds Beitzah 16a:3, with Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Vayeshev 12. At verse 10 it holds Ein Yaakov, Pesakhim 8:7, with Midrash Aggadah, Numbers 11:5:4. At verse 14 it holds Midrash Sekhel Tov, Shemot 16:24:3. At verse 15 it holds Avodah Zarah 17a:7 and Berakhot 15b:21. At verse 16 it holds Ein Yaakov, Sanhedrin 11:15, with Kohelet Rabbah 5:10:1. At verse 17 it holds Jerusalem Talmud Kiddushin 1:7:14 and Jerusalem Talmud Peah 1:1:31. At verse 18 it holds Midrash Aggadah, Leviticus 23:40:10, with Midrash Mishlei 30:5. At verse 19 it holds Chullin 139b:9. At verse 20 it holds Bereshit Rabbah 70:4. At verse 21 it holds Midrash Mishlei 30:6. At verse 22 it holds Otzar Midrashim, Midrashim on Missing and Extra Letters 1:24. At verse 23 it holds Midrash Aggadah, Numbers 2:3:1. At verse 24 it holds Midrash Mishlei 30:7. At verse 25 it holds Midrash Sekhel Tov, Bereshit 28:9:53. At verse 26 it holds Midrash Tanchuma, Nasso 24:1. At verse 27 it holds Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai 14:5. At verse 28 it holds Bereshit Rabbah 66:7. At verse 29 it holds Midrash Mishlei 30:8. At verse 30 it holds Aggadat Bereshit 76:4. At verse 31 it holds Eikhah Rabbah 5:1. At verse 32 it holds Avot DeRabbi Natan 11:2. At verse 33 it holds Berakhot 63b:16. What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and it is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Proverbs 30:1:1 to 30:20:1, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, reported CC-BY; Ibn Ezra, Ibn Ezra on Proverbs 30:11:1, 30:19:1, 30:21:1, 30:22:1 and 30:24:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; Metzudat David, Metzudat David on Proverbs 30:12:1 and 30:23:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/proverbs/30.json, the 40 Talmud and Midrash locators of this chapter; The site's own files, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, printing no portion, no Haftarah and no festival reading for this book; The book dossier, src/components/book/dossier-content/proverbs.ts, for the headings and the shape of the book.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Agur's Confession: Give Me Neither Poverty Nor Riches
Proverbs 30:1-3
"These are the words of Agur son of Jakeh" names an otherwise unknown sage. Jewish tradition identifies Agur with Solomon under another name, a reading the text never states. Agur opens by confessing, "Surely I am the most ignorant of men," without learned wisdom or "knowledge of the Holy One."
Proverbs 30:1
“See the introduction to Proverbs. According to the different reading, there noted, the inscription ends with: “the man spake,” and the words that follow, are the beginning of the confession, “I have wearied myself after God and have fainted.” Spake - The Hebrew word is that commonly used of the utterance of a divine oracle.”
2 more voices on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Proverbs 30:1
“The word calls him God with us; faith appropriates this, and calls him " God with me, who loved me, and gave himself for me, and into union and communion with whom I am admitted." Ucal signifies the Mighty One, for it is upon one that is mighty that help is laid for us. Many good interpreters therefore apply this to the Messiah, for to him all the prophecies bear witness, and why not this then?”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Proverbs 30:1
“This is the title of this chapter (see Introduction). the prophecy--literally, "the burden" (compare Isa 13:1; Zec 9:1), used for any divine instruction; not necessarily a prediction, which was only a kind of prophecy (1Ch 15:27, "a song").”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Surely I am the most ignorant of men: Spurgeon sets Agur's lowly words about himself beside Elihu's claim to be full of matter. Clarke says the words could never be true of Solomon, the wisest of men, and so rejects that identification. Agur admits he lacks understanding.
Proverbs 30:2
“Surely I am more brutish - These words can in no sense, nor by any mode of speech, be true of Solomon: for while he was the wisest of men, he could not have said that he was more brutish than any man, and had not the understanding of a man. It is saying nothing to the purpose, to say he was so independently of the Divine teaching. Had he put this in, even by innuendo, it might be legitimate: but he does not; nor is it by fair implication to be understood.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 30:2
“SOMETIMES it is necessary for a speaker to refer to himself and he may feel it necessary to do so in a way peculiar to the occasion. When Elihu addressed himself to Job and the three wise men, he commended himself to them saying, "I am full of matter, the spirit within me constrains me." But when Agur instructed his two disciples, Ithiel and Ucal, he spoke in the lowliest terms of himself and declared that he was "more stupid than any man." Wisdom is justified of her children.”
I have not learned wisdom: Albert Barnes says Agur looked within and found all his learning as nothing. He had heard of God only by the hearing of the ear, like Job. He points the reader to 9:10.
Proverbs 30:3
“He found, when he looked within, that all his learning was as nothing. He had heard of God only “by the hearing of the ear” Job 42:5, and now he discovered how little that availed. The holy - The Holy One. Compare Pro 9:10.”
Who has ascended to heaven and come down?: Agur's questions name acts only God can do, and build to "What is His name, and what is the name of His Son". The plain reading takes the question as rhetorical. Older writers hear a son named and read it toward Christ, while the text only asks.
Proverbs 30:4
“Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? - Calmet paraphrases this passage thus: “Who hath descended, etc. In order to show the truth of what he was about to say, he observes: I have not the science of the saints; for how could I have acquired it? Who is he who could attain to that? Who has ascended to heaven to learn that science, and who has descended in order to publish it? Is the science of salvation one of those things that can be apprehended only by study?”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Proverbs 30:5-6
Every word of God is flawless: s" states a doctrine of Scripture inside Scripture. "He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him" ties the purity of the word to its use. The warning "Do not add to His words" states the caution of Deuteronomy 4:2 and Revelation 22:18.
Proverbs 30:5
“Every word of God is pure,.... The whole word of God. "All Scripture", given by inspiration of God, to which Agur directs, as giving the best account of God, of his name, nature, and perfections; of his Son, person, offices, and grace; being pure, very pure, "purified" (z) like silver, purified in a furnace of earth.”
2 more voices on this verse
Proverbs 30:5
Out of this consciousness of the impotence of all man’s efforts after the knowledge of God rises the sense of the preciousness of every living word that God has Himself revealed, whether through “the Law and the prophets” or through “wise men and scribes.”
Proverbs 30:5
“It is sure, and therefore we must trust to it and venture our souls upon it. God in his word, God in his promise, is a shield, a sure protection, to all those that put themselves under his protection and put their trust in him. The word of God, applied by faith, will make us easy in the midst of the greatest dangers, Ps. xlvi.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Do not add to His words: Clarke likens the words of God to gold, which no added metal can improve. To add, he says, is to do what the word forbids. Jamieson, Fausset & Brown read the rebuke as proof that the man who adds is a liar.
Proverbs 30:6
You shall hate all hypocrisy; and whatever is pleasing to the Lord, that shall you do. By no means forsake the commands of the Lord. But you shall observe what things you have received from him, neither adding to them nor taking away from them. "For you shall not add unto his words, lest he convict you and you become a liar."
Apostolic Constitutions · written before 380 · Constitutions of the Holy Apostlespatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 30:6
“Add not thou unto his words - You can no more increase their value by any addition, than you can that of gold by adding any other metal to it. Take care that you do not any thing that this word forbids, nor leave undone any thing that it commands: for this is adding and diminishing in Scripture phrase.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Proverbs 30:7-9
Agur asks two things before he dies: "Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the bread that is my portion." The reasons are stated, having too much and denying the LORD, or becoming poor and stealing. It stands beside the request for daily bread at Matthew 6:11.
Proverbs 30:7
“Two things have I required of thee,.... Or, "have asked of thee (a), O God"; as may be supplied, for the words are addressed to him.”
Keep falsehood and deceitful words far from me: Adam Clarke reads the first request against false shows of happiness and deceiving words, promises that fail when they come due. The second request asks for neither extreme of wealth. Ambrose of Milan sees trials in both poverty and riches, so the prayer asks only for enough.
Proverbs 30:8
“Therefore, pay attention to yourself, poor man, pay attention, wealthy man; because there are trials in both poverty and riches. And therefore the Wise Man says: Do not give me riches or poverty, give me only what is sufficient for me. Because riches, like feasts, stretch the stomach and the mind with worries and anxieties. And therefore he asks to be established with what is necessary and sufficient: Lest, he says, being filled, I become a liar and say: Who sees me? But if I become poor, I will commit theft and swear in the name of the Lord (Ibid.).”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · The Six Days of Creationpatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 30:8
“Remove far from me vanity and lies - 1. שוא shav, all false shows, all false appearances of happiness, every vain expectation. Let me not set my heart on any thing that is not solid, true, durable, and eternal. 2. Lies, דבר כזב debar cazab, all words of deception, empty pretensions, false promises, uncertain dependences, and words that Fail; promises which, when they become due, are like bad bills; they are dishonored because they are found to be forged, or the drawer insolvent.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
I may have too much and deny You: Albert Barnes names the danger at each end. Wealth tempts to pride, unbelief and a scorn like Pharaoh's. Poverty tempts to theft and then to perjury, which profanes the name of God.
Proverbs 30:9
“The special dangers of the two extremes. Wealth tempts to pride, unbelief, and a scorn like that of Pharaoh Exo 5:2; poverty to, dishonesty, and then to perjury, or to the hypocritical profession of religion which is practically identical with it.”
Three Things, Yea Four, That Are Never Satisfied
Do not slander a servant to: A single proverb interrupts the numerical sayings to warn against slandering a servant to his master. The placement is deliberate, coming right after a prayer against theft and false swearing: unjust accusation is its own form of the dishonesty. The servant here has no standing to answer back.
Proverbs 30:10
“Accuse not a servant - Do not bring a false accusation against a servant, lest thou be found guilty of the falsehood, and he curse thee for having traduced his character, and in his turn traduce thine. In general, do not meddle with other people’s servants.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Proverbs 30:11-14
There is a generation of those who curse their fathers: Four times "There is a generation" opens a verse, describing one corruption from the inside out: cursing parents, haughty eyes, and teeth that are swords. Verse 14 gives the portrait its edge, as pride and contempt end in "devouring the oppressed from the earth and the needy from among men."
Proverbs 30:11
“As the teacher had uttered what he most desired, so now he tells what he most abhorred; and in true-harmony with the teaching of the Ten Commandments places in the foremost rank those who rise against the Fifth.”
pure in their own eyes: Jamieson, Fausset & Brown read these generations as four kinds of men, and this second kind is the hypocrite. Pure in his own eyes, he is yet unwashed of his filth. Bede adds that God scatters the bones of the self-pleased.
Proverbs 30:12
“A generation that seems pure to itself, etc. Because God scatters the bones of men pleasing to themselves.”
Bede · written before 735 · Commentary on Proverbspatristic
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown name this third generation the proud. Their haughty eyes and pretentious glances turn outward the pride of the generation pure in its own eyes. Bede sets the verse beside a psalm against a haughty heart.
Proverbs 30:13
“A generation whose eyes are lofty, etc. As the Psalmist says: Lord, my heart is not exalted, etc. (Psalm CXXX (Psalm 131 in this reader's Bible)).”
Bede · written before 735 · Commentary on Proverbspatristic
whose teeth are swords: Henry names the temper behind these teeth and jaws as cruelty and covetousness. He calls them the two daughters of the leech, crying give for more blood and more money. Bede reads those devouring the needy as persecutors of the Church.
Proverbs 30:14
“The temper that puts them upon it is made up of cruelty and covetousness. Now those are two daughters of the horse-leech, its genuine offspring, that still cry, " Give, give, give more blood, give more money;" for the bloody are still blood-thirsty; being drunk with blood, they add thirst to their drunkenness, and will seek it yet again.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Proverbs 30:15-17
The leech has two daughters: s: Give and Give" opens the chapter's numerical sayings, three things never satisfied and four that never say enough. The form counts to a number and lands one past it. Verse 17 closes on the eye that mocks a father and scorns a mother.
Proverbs 30:15
Who can hide from himself what is thus enigmatically expressed? "The horseleech had three daughters, dearly loved, but they satisfied her not, and a fourth is not satisfied when you say Enough: the grave, and woman's love, and the earth that is not satisfied with water, and the fire that does not say Enough." The horseleech is the devil, the daughters of the devil are dearly loved, and they cannot be satisfied with the blood of the slain: "the grave, and woman's love, and the earth dry and scorched with heat."
Jerome · written before 420 · Against Jovinianus 1.28patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 30:15
“Note the numeration mounting to a climax, the two, the three, the four (Amo 1:3 etc.). The word rendered “horseleach” is found nowhere else, and its etymology is doubtful; but there are good grounds for taking the word in its literal sense, as giving an example, in the natural world, of the insatiable greed of which the next verse gives other instances. Its voracious appetite is here represented, to express its intensity, as two daughters, uttering the same ceaseless cry for more. Pro 30:16 The grave - Hebrew שׁאול she'ôl.”
the barren womb: Albert Barnes notes the numbers mounting to a climax, two, three, four, and gives the grave its Hebrew name, Sheol. Each of the four never says enough: the grave, the womb, the dry land and the fire. Jerome read the leech as the devil.
As for the eye that mocks a father: Adam Clarke and John Gill both tie the verse back to verse 11, the generation that curses its fathers. Jamieson, Fausset & Brown read the eye as the whole person and the ravens as an unnatural death or an unburied body. The eye that scorned becomes food for birds.
Proverbs 30:17
“The eye that mocketh at his father,.... At his advice, admonitions, and instructions; looks upon him with scorn and disdain, and treats him as a weak, silly, old man: here Agur returns to the first generation he had observed; and despiseth to obey his mother; her orders and commands: or, "the obedience of his mother" (s); her discipline and instruction, having no regard to it.”
2 more voices on this verse
Proverbs 30:17
“The eye that mocketh at his father - This seems to be spoken against those who curse their father, and do not bless their mother, Pro 30:11. The ravens of the valley - Those which frequent the places where dead carcasses and offal are most likely to be found. The raven, the crow, the rook, the daw, the carrion crow, and the Cornish chough, appear to be all of the same genus. Some of them live on pulse and insects; others, the raven in particular, live on carrion.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Proverbs 30:17
“The eye--for the person, with reference to the use of the organ to express mockery and contempt, and also as that by which punishment is received. the ravens . . . eagles . . . eat--either as dying unnaturally, or being left unburied, or both.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Proverbs 30:18-20
There are three things too wonderful for me: Agur names four ways too wonderful, an eagle, a snake, a ship, and a man with a maiden, four paths that leave no trace. Verse 20 turns the saying on the adulteress. What is wonder in nature becomes moral evasion in a woman who treats sin as leaving no mark.
Proverbs 30:18
“Hypocrisy is illustrated by four examples of the concealment of all methods or traces of action, and a pertinent example of double dealing in actual vice is added, that is, the adulterous woman.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
the way of an eagle in the sky: Clarke reads the four ways of verse 19 with the way of the adulteress in verse 20. Barnes says that sin leaves no outward mark. Origen sets the snake's untraceable path on a rock beside the rock of the church.
Proverbs 30:19
“An eagle and a ship and a serpent are not of one family and nature but of a distinguishable and different substance, and yet they are three. On the testimony of Scripture, therefore, [the Arians] learn that their arguments are against themselves.Therefore, in saying that the substance of the Father and of the Son is diverse and their Godhead distinguishable, [the Arians] themselves assert there are two gods. But we, when we confess the Father and the Son, in declaring them still to be of one Godhead, say that there are not two gods but one God.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · Exposition of the Christian Faith 5.3.40-41patristic
2 more voices on this verse
Proverbs 30:19
“The way of an eagle - I borrow, with thanks, the very sensible note of the Rev. Mr. Holden on this passage. “The particle כן ken plainly shows that Pro 30:19 and Pro 30:20 are to be taken in connection; consequently, it is a comparison between the way of an adulterous woman, and the way of the things here described. “The adulterous woman goes about in search of her deluded victim, like as the eagle takes its flight into the air to spy out its prey.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Proverbs 30:19
“Neither against the rock on which Christ builds the church nor against the church will the gates of hades prevail; just as the way of a serpent upon a rock, according to what is written in the Proverbs, cannot be found. Now, if the gates of hades prevail against any one, such cannot be a rock upon which Christ builds the church.”
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · Commentary on Matthew 12:11patristic
This is the way of an adulteress: Origen of Alexandria contrasts two people guilty of the same sin. One feels no pain and says, like this woman, that she has done nothing wrong. The other cannot eat or drink for grief and punishes his own conscience in repentance.
Proverbs 30:20
“I will describe two persons who have sinned the same abominable sin of fornication, yet between these two who have fornicated, the one is not aggrieved nor feels pain nor is vexed but experiences what was said in Proverbs concerning the adulterous woman "who having washed herself, if she does something, says she has done nothing wrong." See with me the other who after the mistake is unable to contain himself but punishes the conscience, tortures the heart, is unable to eat and drink, who fasts not because of a judgment but because of grief of repentance.”
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · Homilies on Jeremiah 20:9.1-2patristic
Proverbs 30:21-23
Under three things the earth trembles: The third numerical saying names disturbances of the social order: "a servant who becomes king," and "a maidservant who supplants her mistress." Each is a reversal of the place a person is fitted for, prosperity or power arriving without the character to carry it.
Proverbs 30:21
“For four which it cannot bear - Better: four it cannot bear. Here the common element is that of being intolerable, and the four examples are divided equally between the two sexes. Each has its examples of power and prosperity misused because they fall to the lot of those who have no training for them, and are therefore in the wrong place.”
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 30:21
“The shaking (of the earth) signifies the change of things upon earth.-Sin, then, which in its own nature is a slave, has reigned in the mortal body of men: once, indeed, at the time of the flood; and again in the time of the Sodomites, who, not satisfied with what the land yielded, offered violence to strangers; and a third time in the case of hateful Egypt, which, though it obtained in Joseph a man who distributed food to all, that they might not perish of famine, yet did not take well with his prosperity, but persecuted the children of…”
Hippolytus of Rome · written before 235 · Fragments from Commentaries on Various Books of Scripturepatristic
a servant who becomes king: Gill says a servant who becomes king was never trained to rule, treats others as he was treated, and grows proud. Hippolytus reads the servant as Israel, a slave in Egypt who became a ruler. Filled with the land's fruit, Israel kicked.
Proverbs 30:22
"When a servant reigneth: "Israel was a slave in Egypt, and in the land of promise became a ruler. "And a fool when he is filled with meat: "i.e., getting the land in possession readily, and eating its fruit, and being filled, it (the people) kicked.
Hippolytus of Rome · written before 235 · Fragments from Commentaries on Various Books of Scripturepatristic
an unloved woman who marries: Albert Barnes calls her a woman with nothing lovable in her. Marriage, which gives most women scope for their best qualities, becomes for her a sphere for making herself and others miserable. The maidservant who supplants her mistress completes the four.
Proverbs 30:23
“Odious woman - One in whom there is nothing loveable. Marriage, which to most women is the state in which they find scope for their highest qualities, becomes to her only a sphere in which to make herself and others miserable.”
Four Things Little Upon the Earth but Exceeding Wise
Proverbs 30:24-28
Four things on earth are small: Four small creatures are "exceedingly wise": ants storing food without strength, rock badgers making homes without power, and locusts advancing without a king. The lizard, caught in one's hands, "is found in the palaces of kings." Each makes up for one lack with a single skill used well.
Proverbs 30:24
“There be four things which are little upon the earth,.... Small in bulk, that have little bodies, are the lesser sort of animals; but they are exceeding wise; show a great deal of art and wisdom in what they do; or "but they are wise, made wise" (e) by the instinct of nature, by the direction of Providence, by which they do things that are surprising.”
3 more voices on this verse
Proverbs 30:24
“There be four things - Of which it is said, they are very little but very wise. 1. The ants. 2. The rabbits. 3. The locusts. 4. The spider. 1. The ants show their wisdom by preparing their meat in the summer, seeking for it and storing it when it may be had; not for winter consumption, for they sleep all that time; but for autumn and spring. See the note on Pro 6:6 (note).”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Proverbs 30:24
“I do not quote these words, however, as taking them in their literal signification, but, agreeably to the title of the book (for it is entitled "Proverbs"), I investigate them as containing a secret meaning.”
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · Against Celsus 4:87patristic
Proverbs 30:24
“By the first (Pr 30:25-28), diligence and providence are commended; the success of these insignificant animals being due to their instinctive sagacity and activity, rather than strength. The other class (Pr 30:30, 31) provides similes for whatever is majestic or comely, uniting efficiency with gracefulness.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
The ants are creatures of little strength: Barnes notes the word people applied to the ants, as Joel applies it to locusts. Their wisdom lies in how they store up food together. Hippolytus reads the ants as the Gentiles, who store up eternal life by faith.
Proverbs 30:25
"The ants have no strength, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." And in like manner, the Gentiles by faith in Christ prepare for themselves eternal life through good works.
Hippolytus of Rome · written before 235 · Fragments from Commentaries on Various Books of Scripture - On Proverbspatristic
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Proverbs 30:25
“See the marginal reference note. Note the word “people” applied here to ants, as to locusts in Joe 1:6. The marvel lies in their collective, and, as it were, organized action.”
the rock badgers are creatures of little power: Hippolytus of Rome read the conies, the rock badgers of this translation, as the Gentiles built on Christ, the spiritual rock. Creatures of little power find safety by making their homes in the rocks. Weakness is answered with a secure dwelling.
Proverbs 30:26
"And the conies, a feeble folk, have made their houses in the rocks." The Gentiles, that is to say, are built upon Christ, the spiritual rock, which is become the head of the corner.
Hippolytus of Rome · written before 235 · Fragments from Commentaries on Various Books of Scripture - On Proverbspatristic
the locusts have no king: Albert Barnes points to Joel 2, where locust swarms sweep over the land in the order of an invading army. Origen of Alexandria draws the contrast with people, who have reason from God and still cannot rule themselves or bear God as king. The locusts keep formation without one.
Proverbs 30:27
“Although the locusts do not have a king, as Scripture says, "He marches the well-ordered army in one line," but people, although they have been made rational by God, have been able neither to rule themselves orderly nor to endure patiently the control of God as king.”
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · Homilies on Exodus 4:7patristic
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Proverbs 30:27
“Compare Joe 2:7-8; the most striking fact in the flight of the locust-swarms was their apparent order and discipline, sweeping over the land like the invasion of a great army.”
the lizard can be caught: Barnes renders the creature as the gecko, a lizard that haunts houses and slips through cracks in walls. Small and easily caught, it lives in the palaces of kings. Weakness still reaches the king's house.
Proverbs 30:28
“Spider - Rather, the Gecko (or Stellio), a genus of the lizard tribe, many species of which haunt houses, make their way through crevices in the walls, and with feet that secrete a venomous exudation catch the spiders or the flies they find there.”
Proverbs 30:29-31
There are three things that are stately in their stride: The last saying names four things "stately in their stride": a lion, a strutting rooster, a he-goat, and "a king with his army around him." The list moves from beasts to men. The Hebrew names of the second and third creatures are uncertain, greyhound among the possible renderings.
Proverbs 30:29
“There be three things which go well - Here is another set of emblems; four things which walk beautifully and with majesty. 1. The lion. 2. The greyhound. 3. The he-goat. And, 4. A king. 1. Nothing can be more majestic than the walk of the lion. It is deliberate, equal, firm, and in every respect becoming the king of the forest. 2. The greyhound. זרזיר מתנים zarzir mothnayim, the girt in the loins; but what this beast is we do not distinctly know.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 30:29
"There be three things which go well, and the fourth which is comely in going; "that is, the angels in heaven, the saints upon earth, and the souls of the righteous under the earth. And the fourth, viz. God, the Word Incarnate, passed in honour through the Virgin's womb; and creating our Adam anew, he passed through the gates of heaven, and became the first-fruits of the resurrection and of the ascension for all. "The whelp of the lion is stronger than the beasts: "i.e., Christ as prophesied of by Jacob in the person of Judah.
Hippolytus of Rome · written before 235 · Fragments from Commentaries on Various Books of Scripture - On Proverbspatristic
a lion, mighty among beasts: The lion leads the four things stately in their stride. Didymus reads the lion as Christ, beside whom every rational creature is as cattle. Hippolytus also takes the lion as Christ, foretold by Jacob in Judah.
Proverbs 30:30
“Christ is the lion: indeed all rational things are cattle in comparison with him. Moses, in fact, said, "I am a child." Because of its natural alacrity, the lion is said to walk unhindered.”
Didymus the Blind · written before 398 · Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon, Fragment 30:25patristic
a strutting rooster: The Berean strutting rooster renders an uncertain word. Barnes notes that the word occurs only here and names a creature girded in the loins. Gill gives the name greyhound and notes that one Jewish commentator did not know it.
Proverbs 30:31
“A greyhound - The Hebrew word occurs nowhere else in the Old Testament. The literal meaning is: “one with loins girded;” and some have referred this to the stripes of the zebra, others to the “war-horse” (compare Job 39:19, Job 39:25), as he is represented in the sculptures of Persepolis, with rich and stately trappings. A king, against whom there is no rising up - i. e., A king irresistible. Others prefer, “a king in the midst of his people,” and the sense, as giving a more vivid picture, is certainly more satisfactory.”
Proverbs 30:32-33
If you have foolishly exalted yourself: The sayings give way to a warning: "If you have foolishly exalted yourself or if you have plotted evil, put your hand over your mouth." Churning milk yields butter and twisting the nose draws blood. The chapter that opened on a confession of ignorance ends on the same restraint.
Proverbs 30:32
“If thou hast done foolishly - And who has not, at one time or other of his life? Lay thine hand upon thy mouth - Like the leper; and cry to God, Unclean! unclean! and keep silence to all besides. God will blot out thy offense, and neither the world nor the Church ever know it, for he is merciful; and man is rarely able to pass by a sin committed by his fellows, especially if it be one to which himself is by nature not liable or inclined.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
For as the churning of milk yields butter: One Hebrew word lies behind churning, twisting and stirring. Albert Barnes renders it pressure: pressed milk yields curds, a pressed nose yields blood, and pressed anger, brooded over, yields strife. Bede turned the image to Scripture, pressed hard in study until milk gives butter.
How this psalm is built
The form: A collection of numerical sayings, most set out as three things and then a fourth, framed by a confession and a prayer, as Delitzsch classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| Three things, and then a fourth | Four sayings in the chapter name a number and then raise it by one: the things never satisfied at verse 15, the things too wonderful at verse 18, the things the earth cannot bear at verse 21, and the things stately in their stride at verse 29. The saying at verse 24 names four small and wise creatures without the step. The raised number holds the hearer to the end of the list, where the last item carries the point.Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon, 1873, on Proverbs 30:15. | Proverbs 30:15, Proverbs 30:18, Proverbs 30:21, Proverbs 30:24, Proverbs 30:29 |
How this chapter is built
1 more paragraph on the patterns
The chapter opens with Agur's confession and a word on the purity of God's word in verses 1 to 6, and a prayer in verses 7 to 9. The rest is a set of counted sayings, most of them naming three things and then a fourth, at verses 15, 18, 21 and 29, with four small creatures at verse 24. The form is known across the ancient Near East, and Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon, 1873, on verse 15, treats the rising number as the frame of the sayings. The last item in each list carries the weight of the saying.
Keep studying
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon, 1873, on Proverbs 30:15.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrose of Milan, The Six Days of Creation; Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2140: “A Homily for Humble Folks” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Didymus the Blind, COMMENTARY ON THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON, FRAGMENT 30:25; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon; Hippolytus of Rome; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Against Jovinianus 1.28; John Gill; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Origen of Alexandria.