The Words of Agur

¹The words of Agur son of Jakeh. The oracle.1

The man declares, I am weary, O God;

I am weary, O God, and worn out.2

²Surely I am too mstupid to be a man.

I have not the understanding of a man.

³I have not learned wisdom,

nor have I knowledge of nthe Holy One.

⁴Who has oascended to heaven and come down?

Who has pgathered the wind in his fists?

Who has qwrapped up the waters in a garment?

Who has established all rthe ends of the earth?

sWhat is his name, and what is his son's name?

Surely you know!

⁵tEvery word of God proves true;

he is ua shield to those who take refuge in him.

⁶vDo not add to his words,

lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.

⁷Two things I ask of you;

deny them not to me wbefore I die:

⁸Remove far from me falsehood and lying;

give me neither poverty nor riches;

feed me with the food that is xneedful for me,

⁹lest I be yfull and zdeny you

and say, a“Who is the Lord?”

or lest I be poor and steal

band profane the name of my God.

¹⁰cDo not slander a servant to his master,

dlest he curse you, and you be held guilty.

¹¹There are those3 who ecurse their fathers

and do not bless their mothers.

¹²There are those who are fclean in their own eyes

but are not washed of their filth.

¹³There are those—how glofty are their eyes,

how high their eyelids lift!

¹⁴There are those whose teeth are hswords,

whose ifangs are knives,

to jdevour the poor from off the earth,

the needy from among mankind.

¹⁵The leech has two daughters:

Give and Give.4

kThree things are never satisfied;

kfour never say, “Enough”:

¹⁶lSheol, mthe barren womb,

the land never satisfied with water,

and the fire that never says, “Enough.”

¹⁷The eye that nmocks a father

and oscorns to obey a mother

will pbe picked out by qthe ravens of the valley

and eaten by the vultures.

¹⁸kThree things are rtoo wonderful for me;

kfour I do not understand:

¹⁹the way of an eagle in the sky,

the way of a serpent on a rock,

the way of a ship on the high seas,

and the way of a man with a virgin.

²⁰This is the way of an adulteress:

she eats and wipes her mouth

and says, “I have done no wrong.”

²¹Under kthree things sthe earth trembles;

under kfour it cannot bear up:

²²ta slave when he becomes king,

and a fool when he is ufilled with food;

²³van unloved woman when she wgets a husband,

and a maidservant when she displaces her mistress.

²⁴kFour things on earth are small,

but they are exceedingly wise:

²⁵xthe ants are a people not strong,

yet they provide their food in the summer;

²⁶ythe rock badgers are a people not mighty,

yet they make their homes in the cliffs;

²⁷the locusts have no zking,

yet all of them march in arank;

²⁸the lizard you can take in your hands,

yet it is in kings' palaces.

²⁹bThree things are stately in their tread;

bfour are stately in their stride:

³⁰the lion, which is mightiest among beasts

and cdoes not turn back before any;

³¹the dstrutting rooster,5 the he-goat,

and a king whose army is with him.6

³²If you have been foolish, exalting yourself,

or if you have been devising evil,

eput your hand on your mouth.

³³For pressing milk produces curds,

pressing the nose produces blood,

and pressing anger produces strife.