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