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Proverbs · Literal Standard Version

Proverbs 30 Literal Standard Version

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About LSV
  • Protestant
  • OT: Masoretic Hebrew
  • NT: Majority (Byzantine) text
  • Protestant (66 books)
  • Very literal
  • 2020
  • CC BY-SA 4.0

Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings

1 Words of Agur, son of Jakeh, the burden, a declaration of the man to Ithiel—to Ithiel and Ucal: I have wearied myself [for] God, || I have wearied myself [for] God, and am consumed. 2 For I am more brutish than anyone, || And do not have the understanding of a man. 3 Nor have I learned wisdom, || Yet I know the knowledge of the Holy Ones. 4 Who went up to the heavens, and comes down? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has bound waters in a garment? Who established all ends of the earth? What [is] His Name? And what [is] His Son’s Name? Surely you know! 5 Every saying of God [is] tried, || He [is] a shield to those trusting in Him. 6 Do not add to His words, lest He reason with you, || And you have been found false. 7 Two things I have asked from You, || Do not withhold from me before I die. 8 Put vanity and a lying word far from me, || Do not give poverty or wealth to me, || Cause me to eat the bread of my portion, 9 Lest I become satiated, and have denied, || And have said, “Who [is] YHWH?” And lest I am poor, and have stolen, || And have laid hold of the Name of my God. 10 Do not accuse a servant to his lord, || Lest he disapprove of you, and you are found guilty. 11 A generation lightly esteems their father, || And does not bless their mother. 12 A generation—pure in their own eyes, || But not washed from their own filth. 13 A generation—how high are their eyes, || Indeed, their eyelids are lifted up. 14 A generation—their teeth [are] swords, || And their jaw-teeth [are] knives, || To consume the poor from earth, || And the needy from [among] men. 15 To the leech [are] two daughters—Give! Give! Behold, three things are not satisfied, || Four have not said “Sufficiency”; 16 Sheol, and a restrained womb, || Earth—it [is] not satisfied [with] water, || And fire—it has not said, “Sufficiency,” 17 An eye that mocks at a father, || And despises to obey a mother, || Ravens of the valley dig it out, || And young eagles eat it. 18 Three things have been too wonderful for me, || Indeed, four that I have not known: 19 The way of the eagle in the heavens, || The way of a serpent on a rock, || The way of a ship in the heart of the sea, || And the way of a man in youth. 20 So—the way of an adulterous woman, || She has eaten and has wiped her mouth, || And has said, “I have not done iniquity.” 21 For three things has earth been troubled, || And for four—it is not able to bear: 22 For a servant when he reigns, || And a fool when he is satisfied with bread, 23 For a hated one when she rules, || And a maidservant when she succeeds her mistress. 24 Four [are] little ones of earth, || And they are made wiser than the wise: 25 The ants [are] a people not strong, || And they prepare their food in summer, 26 hyraxes [are] a people not strong, || And they place their house in a rock, 27 There is no king to the locust, || And it goes out—each one shouting, 28 A spider with two hands takes hold, || And is in the palaces of a king. 29 There are three going well, || Indeed, four are good in going: 30 An old lion—mighty among beasts, || That does not turn back from the face of any, 31 A girt one of the loins, || Also a male goat, || And a king—troops with him. 32 If you have been foolish in lifting yourself up, || And if you have devised evil—hand to mouth! 33 For the churning of milk brings out butter, || And the wringing of the nose brings out blood, || And the forcing of anger brings out strife!

People & places in this chapter

From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.

People

  • Agur

    Author of Proverbs 30

    Named in Proverbs 30:1 as the speaker whose words and burden are recorded there, addressed to Ithiel and Ucal.

    Cited in the guide: Proverbs 30:1

  • Ithiel

    Addressee of Agur

    A man to whom Agur declared his words in Proverbs 30:1.

    Cited in the guide: Proverbs 30:1

  • Jakeh

    Father of Agur

    Named only as the father of Agur, whose words fill Proverbs 30.

    Cited in the guide: Proverbs 30:1

  • Ucal

    Addressee of Agur

    A man named with Ithiel as addressee of Agur's words in Proverbs 30:1.

    Cited in the guide: Proverbs 30:1

Cross references (29)

Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.

  1. 1 Proverbs 31:1; 2 Peter 1:19–21
  2. 2 Psalm 73:22; 1 Corinthians 3:18; Proverbs 5:12; 1 Corinthians 8:2; Isaiah 6:5
  3. 3 Ephesians 3:18–19; Revelation 3:7; Proverbs 9:10; Romans 11:33; Job 11:7–9
  4. 4 John 3:13; Ephesians 4:8–10; Job 26:8; Isaiah 9:6; Isaiah 7:14
  5. 5 Psalm 18:30; Psalm 12:6; James 3:17; Psalm 84:11; Psalm 3:3
  6. 6 Deuteronomy 12:32; Deuteronomy 4:2; Revelation 22:18–19; Job 13:7–9; 1 Corinthians 15:15
  7. 7 Luke 10:42; Psalm 27:4; 2 Kings 2:9; 1 Kings 3:5–9; Psalm 21:2
  8. 8 1 Timothy 6:6–8; Psalm 62:9–10; Psalm 119:37; Matthew 6:33; Luke 11:3
  9. 9 Hosea 13:6; Deuteronomy 31:20; Ezekiel 16:49–50; Deuteronomy 8:10–14; Nehemiah 9:25–26
  10. 10 Ecclesiastes 7:21; Romans 14:4; Daniel 3:8–18; 2 Samuel 19:26–27; 2 Chronicles 24:22–24
  11. 11 Proverbs 20:20; Deuteronomy 27:16; Proverbs 30:17; Exodus 21:17; Proverbs 30:12–14
  12. 12 Luke 18:11; Proverbs 16:2; 2 Timothy 3:5; Jeremiah 2:35; Titus 3:5
  13. 13 Proverbs 6:17; Isaiah 2:11; Psalm 101:5; Psalm 131:1; Ezekiel 28:9
  14. 14 Psalm 57:4; Psalm 3:7; Psalm 14:4; Job 29:17; Psalm 58:6
  15. 15 Proverbs 30:21; Romans 16:18; Proverbs 6:16; Proverbs 30:29; Jude 11–12
  16. 16 Proverbs 27:20; Habakkuk 2:5; Genesis 30:1
  17. 17 Proverbs 30:11; Proverbs 23:22; Deuteronomy 21:18–21; Leviticus 20:9; Proverbs 20:20
  18. 18 Job 42:3; Psalm 139:6
  19. 20 Proverbs 7:13–23; Proverbs 5:6; Numbers 5:11–30
  20. 22 Proverbs 19:10; Ecclesiastes 10:7; 1 Samuel 25:36–38; 1 Samuel 25:3; 1 Samuel 25:10–11
  21. 23 Proverbs 21:19; Proverbs 27:15; Proverbs 21:9; Proverbs 29:21; Proverbs 19:13
  22. 24 Job 12:7
  23. 25 Proverbs 6:6–8
  24. 26 Psalm 104:18; Leviticus 11:5
  25. 27 Joel 1:6–7; Joel 2:7–11; Psalm 105:34; Exodus 10:4–6; Joel 2:25
  26. 30 Judges 14:18; Numbers 23:24
  27. 31 Daniel 3:15–18; Proverbs 20:2; Proverbs 16:14
  28. 32 Job 21:5; Romans 3:19; Job 40:4; Micah 7:16–17; Proverbs 26:12
  29. 33 Proverbs 29:22; Proverbs 17:14; Proverbs 28:25; Proverbs 15:18; Proverbs 26:21

Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences

What the Fathers said

Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).

How these were chosen

“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).

  1. Quotes verse 30:21 Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures (Lecture VI)

    The slave shook the world, since by three things the earth is shaken, and the fourth it cannot bear,--if a slave became a king.

    Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)

  2. Quotes verse 30:29 Gregory of Nazianzus, Theological Orations (The Fifth Theological Oration)

    There are in the Book of Proverbs three things which go well, a lion, a goat, and a cock; and to these is added a fourth;--a King making a speech before the people, to pass over the other sets of four which are there counted up, although things of various natures.

    Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)