Proverbs 30:18
in Proverbs 30There are three things too wonderful for me, four that I cannot understand:
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
There are three things which are too wonderful for me, Yea, four which I know not:
KJV
There be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I know not:
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This verse in Proverbs 30
Commentary
7 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Another enigma. The four things of Pro 30:16 agreed in the common point of insatiableness; the four now mentioned agree in this, that they leave no trace behind them. Pro 30:19 The way of a man with a maid - The act of sin leaves no outward mark upon the sinners.
This site's exposition
There be three things which are too wonderful for me
on Proverbs 30:18-20
The second numerical saying names three things too wonderful for Agur, yea four he does not know: the way of an eagle in the air, a serpent on a rock, a ship in the sea, and a man with a maid, four paths that leave no trace behind them. Verse 20 turns the saying against the adulterous woman, whose way is just as untraceable to her, eating and wiping her mouth and saying she has done no wickedness. The bench reads the pairing as deliberate: what is wonder in nature becomes moral evasion in a woman who treats sin as leaving no mark, the way itself the same, the guilt entirely different.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"There be three things which I cannot understand, and the fourth I know not: the tracks of an eagle flying," i.e., Christ's ascension; "and the ways of a serpent upon a rock," i.e., that the devil did not find a trace of sin in the body of Christ; "and the ways of a ship crossing the sea," i.e., the ways of the Church, which is in this life as in a sea, and which is directed by her hope in Christ through the cross; "and the ways of a man in youth," -the ways of Him, namely, who is born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin. For behold, says the Scripture, a man whose name is the Rising.
The Medieval Church2 voices
A commentator
BonaventureCollations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 8 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
Most incomprehensible is wisdom that travels along roads that are beyond investigation. Concerning this, it is said in Proverbs: "Three things are too wonderful for me, yes, four I cannot understand: the way of an eagle in the air, the way of a serpent upon …
Three things are difficult for me, etc. As far as history is concerned, it is as it is written; but because he speaks through parables, the way of an eagle in the sky is difficult to find: that is, the subtlety of the enemy, which …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
There be three things which are too wonderful for me,.... Which were above his reach and comprehension; what he could not find out, nor account for, nor sufficiently admire; yea, four things which I know not; the way of them; as follows.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
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.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| שְׁלֹשָׁ֣ה | sheloshah | three [things] | H7969 → | 432 times |
| הֵ֭מָּה | hemah | they | H1992 → | 553 times |
| נִפְלְא֣וּ | nifleu | they are [too] wonderful | H6381 → | |
| מִמֶּ֑נִּי | mimeni | for me | H4480 → | 1188 times |
| וְ֝אַרְבָּעָ֗ה | vearba' | and four [things] | H702 → | 318 times |
| לֹ֣א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יְדַעְתִּֽים׃ | yeda'tim | I know them | H3045 → | 945 times |
שְׁלֹשָׁ֣הthree [things]
sheloshahH7969 →432 times
הֵ֭מָּהthey
hemahH1992 →553 times
נִפְלְא֣וּthey are [too] wonderful
nifleuH6381 →
מִמֶּ֑נִּיfor me
mimeniH4480 →1188 times
וְ֝אַרְבָּעָ֗הand four [things]
vearba'H702 →318 times
לֹ֣אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
יְדַעְתִּֽים׃I know them
yeda'timH3045 →945 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Job 42:3You asked, ‘Who is this who conceals My counsel without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.
it leads to
- Psalms 40:5
Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders You have done, and the plans You have for us— none can compare to You— if I proclaim and declare them, they are more than I…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Job 38:2
“Who is this who obscures My counsel by words without knowledge?
- Psalms 139:6
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
- Psalms 131:1
My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty. I do not aspire to great things or matters too lofty for me.
- Psalms 40:5
Through
Psalms 139:6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
it leads to
- Romans 11:33
O, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and untraceable His ways!
- Job 42:3
You asked, ‘Who is this who conceals My counsel without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.
- Job 26:14
Indeed, these are but the fringes of His ways; how faint is the whisper we hear of Him! Who then can understand the thunder of His power?”
- Job 11:7–9
Can you fathom the deep things of God or discover the limits of the Almighty?
- Romans 11:33
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
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About Proverbs
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Bonaventure, Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 8; Hippolytus of Rome, Hippolytus Exegetical Fragments; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.