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 stupid to be a man.

I have not the understanding of a man.

³I have not learned wisdom,

nor have I knowledge of the Holy One.

⁴Who has ascended to heaven and come down?

Who has gathered the wind in his fists?

Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment?

Who has established all the ends of the earth?

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

Surely you know!

⁵Every word of God proves true;

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

⁶Do 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 before I die:

⁸Remove far from me falsehood and lying;

give me neither poverty nor riches;

feed me with the food that is needful for me,

⁹lest I be full and deny you

and say, “Who is the Lord?”

or lest I be poor and steal

and profane the name of my God.

¹⁰Do not slander a servant to his master,

lest he curse you, and you be held guilty.

¹¹There are those3 who curse their fathers

and do not bless their mothers.

¹²There are those who are clean in their own eyes

but are not washed of their filth.

¹³There are those—how lofty are their eyes,

how high their eyelids lift!

¹⁴There are those whose teeth are swords,

whose fangs are knives,

to devour the poor from off the earth,

the needy from among mankind.

¹⁵The leech has two daughters:

Give and Give.4

Three things are never satisfied;

four never say, “Enough”:

¹⁶Sheol, the barren womb,

the land never satisfied with water,

and the fire that never says, “Enough.”

¹⁷The eye that mocks a father

and scorns to obey a mother

will be picked out by the ravens of the valley

and eaten by the vultures.

¹⁸Three things are too wonderful for me;

four 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 three things the earth trembles;

under four it cannot bear up:

²²a slave when he becomes king,

and a fool when he is filled with food;

²³an unloved woman when she gets a husband,

and a maidservant when she displaces her mistress.

²⁴Four things on earth are small,

but they are exceedingly wise:

²⁵the ants are a people not strong,

yet they provide their food in the summer;

²⁶the rock badgers are a people not mighty,

yet they make their homes in the cliffs;

²⁷the locusts have no king,

yet all of them march in rank;

²⁸the lizard you can take in your hands,

yet it is in kings' palaces.

²⁹Three things are stately in their tread;

four are stately in their stride:

³⁰the lion, which is mightiest among beasts

and does not turn back before any;

³¹the strutting 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,

put your hand on your mouth.

³³For pressing milk produces curds,

pressing the nose produces blood,

and pressing anger produces strife.