30:1 As noted above, the Hebrew text in this chapter presents many difficulties, which translators have attempted to resolve in a variety of ways. Verse 1 is the most extreme case, as can be seen in what is a relatively minor sample of translations (cf. table 2.13). None of the alternatives to the MT has stronger textual support than the others. Like most translations, the ESV has eliminated the doubling of “oracle” and “utterance” and has repointed the Hebrew names “Ithiel” and “Ukal” to arrive at other Hebrew words: “I am weary” and “worn out.”

TABLE 2.13: Various Translations of Proverbs 30:1

I have argued elsewhere that there are good reasons to retain the MT reading.205 For one, this is good exegetical practice when convincing alternative solutions are not available. We will also see that the first nine verses of this passage have been crafted with a technique known as relecture, or metalepsis, wherein passages from the Law, Poetry, and Prophets are cited with very minor changes in order to use them for a new purpose. For example, the phrase “The words of Agur” is often believed to be an instance of relecture that echoes the beginning of books like Deuteronomy, “These are the words of Moses,” or any number of similar beginnings in Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Jeremiah, Amos, and Nehemiah. These cross-genre allusions will continue throughout the early part of the chapter.

This brings us back to the odd doubling of “oracle” and “utterance of the man.”206 Both phrases may be examples of allusion, associating Agur with these exact same terms in legal, royal, and prophetic writings (e.g., Num. 24:3–4; 2 Sam. 23:1; Prov. 31:1; Isa. 13:1; Ezek. 12:10). These allusions to Moses, Lemuel’s mother, David, and many of the prophets become more pronounced in later verses and add some weight to Agur’s otherwise unknown status.

Finally, the ESV follows other translations by reading the names of Ithiel, which is doubled, and Ukal as similar Hebrew words.207 But names, both known and unknown, are one of the central features of the first nine verses, so it is again a safe bet to leave them as they are in the MT.208

30:2–3 These verses probably sound familiar to us and yet also slightly off somehow. This is likely because they are another instance of Agur’s words echoing other biblical material yet making slight changes that suit his context.

TABLE 2.14: Echoes in Agur’s Words in Proverbs 30:2–3

* Cf. Job 18:3; Psalms 49:20; 92:6.

Humility is a constant theme in Proverbs, but the sort of self-deprecation and tone of lament in Agur’s words are new, reminding us of the tone of surrender we find in such places as Ecclesiastes 3:19–22 and Psalms 49; 73.

Furthermore, Agur says he does not know the “Holy One,” which sounds at first like he does not have wisdom (cf. Prov. 9:10). But, as we will see, there is abundant wisdom in this chapter, so something else is going on in the language. A clue to this something else can be found in the fact that Agur does not mention the divine name, Yahweh. In fact, Agur will use several names and titles for God before finally mentioning Yahweh in Proverbs 30:9, where his deepest fear is that he might “profane” that sacred name. Even more, the long central poem in verses 1–9 centers on an unknown divine name (v. 4). In the end we see that Agur has come to doubt or hesitate before the optimistic promises of the parents and of Woman Wisdom about the path to getting wise, wealthy, and righteous. Who can know God, after all, or claim to measure up to his wisdom (cf. Isa. 55:8–9)?

30:4 This leads us to the long, central verse in which Agur asks six questions. This riddle form is completely new to Proverbs, reminding us of the dozens of paralyzing questions God directs at Job (Job 38–41; more on Job shortly). This list of questions anticipates the several lists that follow in Proverbs 30:7–33.

The questions are about an all-powerful figure, his name, and the name of his son. We should by now be able to appreciate the point made in the Section Overview that Agur is intensely interested in names: using them, withholding them, fearing them, and asking about them. Names are more than a matter of words but point to reputation, power, and a unique sense of identity, as these words of Yahweh in Isaiah make so clear: “For my name’s sake I defer my anger; for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you” (Isa. 48:9). This rich quality of names is clearly at the heart of Agur’s questions.

Two major issues face us in this verse: the content and style of the questions about names and the interest in a father and his son. Both questions can be answered, at least tentatively, by comparing them to similar questions about names and identities in other Jewish writings. After all, we already know that these first nine verses are highly dependent on other writings.

Among the many parallels scholars have identified in Agur’s questions, Genesis, Job, and Baruch have received the most attention. The Genesis parallel concerns Jacob, whose story is dominated by names, both in Jacob’s lying about his name and his being given a new one (Gen. 27:18–29), as well as his unsuccessful desire to know God’s name (Gen. 28:15–16; 32:28–29)—a hubris that Agur is careful to avoid. In Job it is God who asks the “who” questions of Job to emphasize the great distance between divine and human wisdom (Job 38:5–11; 40:12; cf. 42:1–6). The allusions in Baruch, which parallel the prophet Amos, run throughout Proverbs 30:2–6 (cf. table 2.16).

TABLE 2.15: Parallel Passages in Baruch and Proverbs

If indeed Agur has borrowed these phrases from Baruch, he has carefully exchanged the names of Jacob and Israel for questions about names. Both passages also link God’s condescension, his name, and the “law” or “word” or “commandments of God.” But where Baruch names Jacob and Israel, Agur leaves the names as a question. This is mostly likely because Agur’s main concern in this opening is proper respect for the name Yahweh (Prov. 30:9).209 Agur’s point seems to be that God can name a human; he can give him identity and a destiny. But God is self-named, “I am who I am” (Ex. 3:14) and “I am the Lord” (Ex. 6:2),210 so when we take the divine name on our lips we do not exercise the authority God does when he uses our name. At the most our speaking God’s name is only a frail and finite gesture toward a perfect and infinite being.

30:5–6 Care in using God’s name gives way to respect for God’s revelation. These verses, true to Agur’s style, are drawn from the words of David and Moses, with only very slight variations. Proverbs 30:5 is an allusion to a prayer of David repeated many times in the OT (2 Sam. 22:31; Pss. 12:6; 18:30–31; 119:4; 144:2). This makes it an ideal passage for Agur to use, giving a nod to Israel’s favored king. The reference to Psalms also introduces a tenor of prayer, to which Agur will turn in Proverbs 30:7–9. Agur replaces David’s “Yahweh” (“Lord”) with his own “Eloah” (“God”), favoring Agur’s reverence for the sacred name, Yahweh (cf. v. 9).

Verse 6 is a citation from Moses in Deuteronomy (Deut. 4:2; 12:32), with Agur’s appended conclusion, “lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar” (Prov. 30:6). Why does he appeal to lying? Might it be an allusion to Jacob’s lies in Genesis 25–33, to match the allusions to Jacob in Proverbs 30:4? One can only guess. We can say, however, that the sin of lying, prohibited in the Decalogue (Ex. 20:16), prefaces Agur’s mention of three more of these commandments in the prayer that follows.211

30:7–9 The chapter’s opening call to wisdom ends with the only prayer in Proverbs. This chapter includes many numbered lists, and the prayer for two (or three) things may be the first of them.

Agur begins by acknowledging his mortality, asking for this help “before I die” (Prov. 30:7). Outside of Proverbs, wisdom is often tied to one’s mortal life, as Psalm 90 has it in its prayer for wisdom to “number our days” over one’s “seventy” or “eighty” years (Ps. 90:10, 12; cf. Job 14:1–2; 34:14–15; Ps. 104:29; James 4:14). Mortality puts one in touch with the burden of time and need for prayer before death.

The center of the petition in Proverbs 30:8 makes three requests, to be (1) kept from falsehood, (2) given neither extreme abundance nor need, and (3) given daily provision. Some scholars take the last two requests as one. But the three petitions address three distinct things: speech (and all conduct), desire, and daily provision (and discernment to know what that requires). The prayers have been shown to be a likely source to the Lord’s Prayer in the Gospels (cf. Response section).

The prayer closes with Agur’s chief anxiety: abundance or wanting will lead ultimately not only to social sins (lying and theft) but eventually to profaning the divine name, Yahweh—which he finally names here, but only in words of prayer (Prov. 30:9). It is certainly possible that Agur has only these two specific kinds of temptation in mind. But, as we can see from verse 8, Agur does appear to have larger categories of virtue in view—moral conduct, desire, discernment, and worship (the last because all prayer is an act of rendering worthiness). This breadth of concern is reinforced by the fact that the sins Agur names in verse 9 come directly from the Ten Commandments (cf. Exodus 20), a summary of some six hundred commands in the Mosaic law.

In all this talk of names the motto “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (cf. Prov. 1:7) appears in a new light. The failure to be wise in conduct, desire, and understanding offends the authority and reputation of our Creator and Redeemer.

30:10–14 The opening command (v. 10) warns against slandering a “servant,” since it may come back to haunt the slanderer in court (cf. Ex. 22:21–24, 27; Deut. 15:9; 23:16). This sets the stage for the verses that follow.

The second verse picks up the theme of sinful speech (“curse” and “do not bless”) but also begins with the Hebrew dor (“a generation”; cf. ESV mg.), which starts all the rest of the verses in the cluster. This results in the sequence “A generation . . . A generation . . . etc.” that forms a descending list of contemptible people and their vices. The warnings against slandering and cursing (Prov. 30:10–11) also fit with Agur’s anxiety around sinful speech in verses 7–9, as well as his focus on sins in the Decalogue—here, citing the fifth commandment (v. 11; cf. Ex. 20:12).

The second generation in verse 12 is one that revels in pride, denial, and self-deception (cf. Prov. 16:2; 21:2). So also with the Pharisee who prayed, “I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector” (Luke 18:11).

The third and fourth generations serve as even further descriptions of the first and second, like a lens focusing deeper and deeper on the depravity of human hearts united as one. The third generation (Prov. 30:13) is self-inflated before God—a stark contrast to the humility extolled in the Bible (cf. Psalm 131). The fourth generation (Prov. 30:14) is the most concrete and also the most violent, with “teeth” as “swords” and “fangs” as “knives” consuming the poor. Prideful ambition and unchecked desire are like an appetite that cannibalizes the weak and marginalized of the world.

30:15b–16 This is the first of three groups of sayings of wonder (cf. Section Outline) and the beginning of the numerical lists that sustain the rest of the chapter. Following on the lesson of desire in the leech, this list observes other things whose identity is defined by their desire. The outer objects of “Sheol” (the grave) and “fire” are associated with the consumption or destruction of life, while the inner objects, the “barren womb” and dry “land,” appear to symbolize the desire for life. In a world that could never imagine the powers of modern medicine, death and the struggle for life were everyday mysteries that drew forth attempts to understand the power (and order) of creation.

30:17 Like verses 10–14, 20, this is an interlude between numerical lists. The unusual proverb might seem to appear rather unexpectedly, but it does echo the teaching on parental respect in verse 11 and the conspicuous interest in the “son” in verse 4. Here the law in the fifth commandment is hammered home with the exceedingly painful image of a child’s eye being gouged out by birds of prey. One would have to guess this kind of thing did not happen often in the ancient world, unless of course the child in question was deceased and lying in an open field. Nothing about the image is pretty or typical. But the shock effect works to ensure that the ethical principle is heard and remembered.

30:18–19 After morose reflections on death (vv. 15–16) and a violent lesson for disrespectful children (v. 17) comes a welcome meditation on the wonder of life in the creation. As we might expect, this list has been created with a view to the order and function of the world around us, human and nonhuman alike. The sayings are “too wonderful” for Agur and beyond understanding. A part of growing in wisdom comes from contemplating the wonders that attract analysis and yet exceed the human limits of knowledge (cf. Response section).

The images proceed from the animal world to human industry and human intimacy. In all these numbered lists the challenge comes in identifying a common theme or themes. Scholars have suggested at least three themes to explain this group: (1) they leave no trace, (2) they have mysterious destinations, and (3) they move in mysterious ways. The last option makes the most sense, as should be clear from the impossibility of flying, sailing, or moving across the earth without legs. This means that the final image of a man with a virgin likely imagines sexual intercourse.213 Modern culture has lost some of the sacredness around sexual intimacy, arguably to the destruction of something otherwise beautiful. But it is good nonetheless; just as there is goodness in the order of the animal world, there is goodness in rightly ordered sex.214

30:20 This is the final interlude in the chapter. Along with verse 10, it examines human degeneracy, and some scholars believe the saying follows as a negative example of the sexuality in verse 19. Additionally, the acts of this “adulteress” combine images of sex and eating. This draws our attention back to the centrality of desire in the path to wisdom and folly in chapters 5–7; 9. This woman also embodies the self-deceptiveness of the wicked in 30:12–13: humans have a natural tendency to justify their indiscretions.

30:21–23 The next numerical list imagines a tottering earth to introduce a list of foreboding circumstances. Van Leeuwen labels these sayings “World Upside Down” wisdom, in which wisdom contemplates the creation in complete disorder.215 Two of the examples are masculine, and two are feminine. The masculine examples portray the two sides of 19:10, a slave rising to power and a fool living in luxury (cf. Eccles. 10:7). We all know that Joseph is an obvious counterexample of the first image. The point of such a proverb, however, is not to state a rule but to observe situations in which human nature is prone to be at its worst. A slave lacks experience in leadership and is shaped by bitterness that makes him prone to compensate for suffering and mistreatment by imposing it on others. The fool over-sated with food, meanwhile, is someone who has benefitted from the wisdom and hard work of others and therefore is prone to think of himself as wise when the opposite is true (cf. Prov. 26:12).

The two feminine examples bear some resemblance to the stories of Abram, Hagar, and Sarai (Gen. 16:1–16) and of Jacob, Leah, and Rachel (Genesis 29–30). Shared marital love stirs up jealousy and resentment, which upsets the life and order of a home and family. Men and women alike are prone to covet and envy other’s vocations and, in the process, upset the life and balance of the community.

30:24–28 This is a list of the “small” but “wise”—examples of truth and the beauty we are prone to overlook. The sayings speak practically to the “theme of wisdom compensating for smallness.”216 Ecclesiastes 9:11–15 offers a lengthier reflection on this theme.

These animals fall into two groups. The ant and the rock badger lack “strength” and “might” yet have food in winter and safety in the rocks. Each creature informs our understanding of diligence and thoughtful planning common to every form of labor. The second group has more obvious connections to royalty: locusts that lack a king advance in ranks, and tiny lizards are able to run freely in king’s palaces. Much like us, Israel naturally came to trust in exceptional things: great kings, elaborate temples, costly sacrifices, incomparable beauty, large armies, and great wealth. All of these are magnets for idolatry, for placing one’s hope and trust in what is seen rather than in what is not.

30:29–31 The final numerical list sits in contrast to the previous one (Prov. 30:24–28): the wisdom of the small but wise alongside the reality of pomp and power. As in verses 18–19 above, three examples from the nonhuman world culminate with a human example, in this case a king surrounded by an army.

Sadly, the original Hebrew text of verse 31 has been lost to us, and we have inherited a number of options in the ancient manuscripts from which we must seek to reconstruct something meaningful. The ESV is safe in staying close to other modern translations.

What might this list teach us? On the one hand it may be that the small but wise in the previous sayings are meant to expose the misleading outward appearances in this list—a lesson made more likely in light of verses 32–33. The list may also be a simple observation of wonder about the way confidence itself becomes a force of social and political power.

30:32–33 The closing verse pair echoes Agur’s humility in the opening verses and his restless fear that he might speak sinfully (vv. 1–9). These two verses also sound a warning against the backdrop of verses 29–31: strength and pomp may have innate power, but fools turn this power toward evil means.

Verse 32 thus advises putting one’s hand on one’s mouth to avoid error. Then in verse 33 the image of a raised hand (presumably pressed to the lips) is turned to create two powerful metaphors: milk pressed to curdling and a nose pressed to bleeding. This expands the commentary about power in verses 29–31. Just as there are productive and painful forms of twisting (or pressing), so are there constructive and destructive uses of power and position.