Proverbs Chapter 30
Showing all 33 verses for Proverbs Chapter 30.
The People's Bible is written by people, for the people. Each verse below shows:
"The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, even the prophecy: the man spake unto Ithiel, even unto Ithiel and Ucal, "
"This is the record of Agur, son of Jakeh - a solemn message he delivered, spoken to Ithiel and Ucal."
You don't need a famous name for your words to matter to me. I listen to the quiet, unknown voices just as closely as the loud ones - what matters is whether what you say is true and humble.
"Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man. "
"Honestly, I'm more like an animal than a man - I don't have the ordinary understanding people are supposed to have."
The people I trust most aren't the ones who claim to know everything - they're the ones honest enough to say 'I don't fully understand this.' That kind of honesty opens a door I can walk through; false certainty just shuts it.
"I neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the holy. "
"I never learned wisdom properly, and I don't have insight into the holy."
I'd rather you came to me admitting what you don't know than pretending you've mastered things you haven't. Genuine seeking always starts further back than people like to admit - and that's exactly where I meet you.
"Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? who hath gathered the wind in his fists? who hath bound the waters in a garment? who hath established all the ends of the earth? what is his name, and what is his son’s name, if thou canst tell? "
"Who has ever gone up to heaven and come back down? Who has scooped up the wind in their bare hands? Who has tied up the sea in a cloth? Who set the boundaries of the whole earth? What's his name - and what's his son's name, if you can tell me?"
When you feel like you have to control everything, remember - you didn't set the boundaries of the ocean or invent the wind. You're not meant to carry that weight. Let yourself be small in the right way; it's not weakness, it's honesty.
"Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. "
"Everything God says is flawless, completely reliable - he's like a shield protecting everyone who takes refuge in him."
You don't have to understand everything about me before you can trust me. Trust isn't about having all the answers - it's about leaning on something solid when you need protection, and finding it holds.
"Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar. "
"Don't add anything to his words - or he'll call you out for it, and you'll be exposed as a liar."
Represent what's true as it actually is - don't dress it up, don't add rules I never gave, don't put words in my mouth to control other people. Integrity means letting the truth stand on its own.
"Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die: "
"There are two things I'm asking you for - please don't refuse me before I die:"
It's alright to ask me directly for what you need - not in vague, grand terms, but specifically. I'd rather you tell me exactly what's weighing on you than pretend you don't need anything.
"Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: "
"Keep falsehood and lies far away from me. Don't make me poor, and don't make me rich either - just give me the food I need each day."
I taught my followers to pray for daily bread, not for a stockpile - not because wanting security is wrong, but because chasing 'more' never actually satisfies, and having too little can break you too. Ask for enough, and trust that enough is genuinely enough.
"Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain. "
"Because if I have too much, I might get comfortable and deny you, saying, 'Who even is the LORD?' And if I'm too poor, I might steal, and dishonour God's name by doing it."
I know how easily comfort turns into forgetting what matters, and how easily desperation turns into compromise. I'm not asking you to fear either poverty or wealth - I'm asking you to stay awake to what either one does to your heart.
"Accuse not a servant unto his master, lest he curse thee, and thou be found guilty. "
"Don't badmouth a servant to their employer - they might curse you for it, and you'll end up the guilty one."
Watch how you use your voice against people with less power than you - an employee, anyone who can't easily defend themselves to the person in charge of them. I notice when the strong go after the vulnerable, even in small ways.
"There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother. "
"There's a whole kind of person out there who curses their father and doesn't even bless their mother."
However complicated your relationship with your parents is, contempt corrodes you more than it corrodes them. I'm not asking you to pretend everything was fine - I'm asking you not to let bitterness curdle into cursing the people who gave you life.
"There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness. "
"There's a kind of person who thinks they're completely clean in their own eyes - yet they've never actually washed off their own filth."
I'm less interested in whether you feel innocent and much more interested in whether you're honest with yourself. Real change starts the moment you stop insisting you're already clean and actually let yourself be searched.
"There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up. "
"There's a kind of person - oh, how superior their look is! How they hold their head up and look down on everyone."
You can usually tell how someone regards others just by how they look at them. I want you looking at people the way you'd want to be looked at yourself - not down, not measuring them against you, just eye to eye.
"There is a generation, whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men. "
"There's a kind of person whose teeth are like swords, whose jaws are like knives - devouring the poor right off the earth, and the needy from among people."
When your gain depends on someone else's ruin - a wage too low to live on, a debt trap, a deal you know is unfair - that's not success, that's devouring. I stand with whoever's being eaten, not with the one holding the knife.
"The horseleach hath two daughters, crying, Give, give. There are three things that are never satisfied, yea, four things say not, It is enough: "
"The leech has two daughters, both crying 'Give me more, give me more!' There are three things that are never satisfied - actually four that never say 'that's enough':"
Greed isn't a character flaw that shows up occasionally - left unchecked, it behaves like a leech, always demanding one more thing. I want to free you from that hunger, not by giving you more, but by teaching you to actually feel full with what you have.
"The grave; and the barren womb; the earth that is not filled with water; and the fire that saith not, It is enough. "
"The grave; a womb that can't have children; land that never gets enough rain; and fire - none of these ever say, 'That's enough.'"
Fire can't choose to stop burning - but you can choose to stop grasping. That's the difference between you and the things on this list: you have the freedom to say 'enough,' and that freedom is where real contentment begins.
"The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it. "
"The eye that mocks a father and looks down on obeying a mother - ravens from the valley will peck it out, and young eagles will eat it."
Family isn't perfect, and I know some of you have real reasons for pain there - but scorn as a permanent posture leaves you exposed to things a family bond would have protected you from. Where reconciliation is possible, it's worth more than you think.
"There be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I know not: "
"There are three things too amazing for me to explain - actually four I just don't understand:"
Not every mystery needs solving. Some things - how love finds its way between two people, how a bird holds itself in the air - are meant to be marvelled at, not figured out. Let yourself be amazed without needing all the answers.
"The way of an eagle in the air; 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. "
"The way an eagle moves through the sky; the way a snake moves over a rock; the way a ship moves through the sea; and the way a man and a woman come together."
Attraction, love, chemistry between two people - it's one of the most natural things in the world, and still nobody can fully explain how or why it happens. I don't ask you to explain it; I ask you to handle something so mysterious and powerful with real care.
"Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness. "
"That's exactly how an unfaithful woman behaves: she has sex, wipes her mouth clean, and says, 'I haven't done anything wrong.'"
The danger isn't only doing wrong - it's doing wrong and telling yourself it doesn't count. I'd rather you came to me honestly, ashamed and searching, than clean and denying. Honesty about what you've done is always the door back to healing.
"For three things the earth is disquieted, and for four which it cannot bear: "
"Under three things the earth trembles - actually four it just can't bear:"
Sudden power can be as dangerous as sudden poverty if the character underneath hasn't caught up. I care less about your position changing than about your heart being ready for whatever position you're in.
"For a servant when he reigneth; and a fool when he is filled with meat; "
"When a slave suddenly becomes king; and when a fool has all the food he could want;"
However much or little you have, I care about the shape of your heart underneath it. Sudden power or sudden plenty will test you - so build your character now, quietly, so you're ready whenever your circumstances change.
"For an odious woman when she is married; and an handmaid that is heir to her mistress. "
"When a woman nobody can stand finally gets married; and when a servant-girl inherits everything from her mistress."
Change your circumstances gradually if you can, and be gentle with yourself and others when change comes suddenly instead. Whatever shift you're facing, I'm more interested in how you carry it than in how fast it came.
"There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise: "
"There are four things on this earth that are small - but they're remarkably wise:"
You don't need to be big, important or powerful to live wisely. Watch the small, unnoticed things around you - there's more to learn from quiet, consistent behaviour than from anything loud or impressive.
"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer; "
"Ants aren't a strong species, yet they store up their food in summer."
Strength isn't what gets you through hard seasons - preparation is. Use the good times to build up what you'll need later, not because I want you anxious about the future, but because a little foresight now saves a lot of suffering later.
"The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks; "
"Rock hyraxes are a feeble bunch, yet they make their homes in the rocks."
You don't have to be the strongest to be secure - you just need to build your life on the right foundation. Find what's solid, and root yourself there, instead of exhausting yourself trying to be tougher than you are.
"The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands; "
"Locusts have no king, yet they all move out together in organised swarms."
You don't always need someone ranked above you telling you what to do - you need a shared purpose and people willing to move together. That kind of unity, chosen rather than forced, is its own kind of strength.
"The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings’ palaces. "
"A spider you can catch with your hands - yet it's found even in kings' palaces."
You don't need power or status to end up in rooms that matter - persistence and skill, used quietly and consistently, will carry you further than you expect. Don't despise your small beginnings.
"There be three things which go well, yea, four are comely in going: "
"There are three things that move with real presence, actually four that carry themselves well:"
There's a kind of confidence that isn't arrogance - it's simply moving through life secure in who you are. I want that for you: not swagger, but the quiet dignity of someone who knows their worth.
"A lion which is strongest among beasts, and turneth not away for any; "
"A lion, strongest of all animals, who backs down from nothing;"
Real courage doesn't need to shout - it comes from knowing what you stand for so deeply that you simply don't flinch. Build that kind of strength in quiet, ordinary moments, and it'll hold when it counts.
"A greyhound; an he goat also; and a king, against whom there is no rising up. "
"A strutting rooster, or a he-goat, and a king whom no one dares rise up against."
Security that's real doesn't need to defend itself all the time. If your standing with me, and your sense of who you are, is genuinely solid, you won't need to keep proving it to anyone.
"If thou hast done foolishly in lifting up thyself, or if thou hast thought evil, lay thine hand upon thy mouth. "
"If you've been foolish enough to think too highly of yourself, or you've been plotting something wrong - put your hand over your mouth."
When you notice pride or a bad plan rising in you, the kindest thing you can do - for yourself and everyone around you - is just pause and stay quiet a moment. That gap between the impulse and the words is where real self-control lives.
"Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood: so the forcing of wrath bringeth forth strife. "
"Just as churning milk produces butter, and twisting someone's nose makes it bleed, stirring up anger produces conflict."
Most fights don't erupt from nowhere - somebody keeps stirring, keeps pushing, until it boils over. If you want peace, notice the moment you're the one doing the stirring, and choose to stop before conflict is what you've made.