| 1 | The words of Agur the son of Jakeh; the prophecy uttered by the man unto Ithiel, [even] unto Ithiel and Ucal: |
| 2 | Truly I am more stupid than any one; and I have not a man's intelligence. |
| 3 | I have neither learned wisdom, nor have I the knowledge of the Holy. |
| 4 | Who hath ascended up into the heavens, and descended? Who hath gathered the wind in his fists? Who hath bound the waters in a mantle? Who hath established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son's name, if thou knowest? |
| 5 | Every word of +God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. |
| 6 | Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar. |
| 7 | Two things do I ask of thee; deny me [them] not before I die: |
| 8 | Remove far from me vanity and lies; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the bread of my daily need: |
| 9 | lest I be full and deny [thee], and say, Who is Jehovah? or lest I be poor and steal, and outrage the name of my God. |
| 10 | Speak not too much about a servant to his master, lest he curse thee, and thou be held guilty. |
| 11 | There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother; |
| 12 | there is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, yet are not washed from their filthiness; |
| 13 | there is a generation,—how lofty are their eyes, how their eyelids are lifted up! |
| 14 | -- a generation whose teeth are swords, and their jaw-teeth knives, to devour the afflicted from off the earth, and the needy from [among] men. |
| 15 | The leech hath two daughters: Give, give. There are three [things] never satisfied; four which say not, It is enough: |
| 16 | -- Sheol, and the barren womb; the earth which is not filled with water, and the fire which saith not, It is enough. |
| 17 | The eye that mocketh at a father, and despiseth to obey a mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it. |
| 18 | There are three [things] too wonderful for me, and four that I know not: |
| 19 | The way of an eagle in the heavens, the way of a serpent upon a rock, the way of a ship in the midst of the sea, and the way of a man with a maid. |
| 20 | Such is the way of an adulterous woman: she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness. |
| 21 | Under three [things] the earth is disquieted, and under four it cannot bear up: |
| 22 | Under a servant when he reigneth, and a churl when he is filled with meat; |
| 23 | under an odious [woman] when she is married, and a handmaid when she is heir to her mistress. |
| 24 | There are four [things] little upon the earth, and they are exceeding wise: |
| 25 | The ants, a people not strong, yet they provide their food in the summer; |
| 26 | the rock-badgers are but a feeble folk, yet they make their house in the cliff; |
| 27 | the locusts have no king, yet they go forth all of them by bands; |
| 28 | thou takest hold of the lizard with the hands, yet is she in kings' palaces. |
| 29 | There are three [things] which have a stately step, and four are comely in going: |
| 30 | The lion, mighty among beasts, which turneth not away for any; |
| 31 | a [horse] girt in the loins; or the he-goat; and a king, against whom none can rise up. |
| 32 | If thou hast done foolishly in lifting up thyself, or if thou hast thought evil, [lay] the hand upon thy mouth. |
| 33 | For the pressing of milk bringeth forth butter, and the pressing of the nose bringeth forth blood; and the pressing of anger bringeth forth strife. |