Proverbs 30:2

Proverbs 30:2 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man.
• New International Version (NIV)Surely I am only a brute, not a man; I do not have human understanding.
• English Standard Version (ESV)Surely I am too stupid to be a man. I have not the understanding of a man.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Surely I am more stupid than any man, And do not have the understanding of a man.

Context of Proverbs 30:2

1The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, the oracle: The man says to Ithiel, to Ithiel and to Ucal: Surely I am more brutish and stupid than any man, And I do not have the understanding of a man [for I do not know what I do not know]. 3I have not learned [skillful and godly] wisdom, Nor do I have knowledge of the Holy One [who is the source of wisdom]. 4Who has ascended into heaven and descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has bound the waters in His garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is His Son’s name? Certainly you know!

Proverbs 30:2 word by word

כִּ֤י בַ֣עַר אָנֹכִ֣י מֵאִ֑ישׁ וְלֹֽא־בִינַ֖ת אָדָ֣ם לִֽי׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• more brutishבַּ֫עַרba‛ar · stupidH1198
• manאִישׁ'îysh · man: anyoneH376
• and have not the understandingבִּינָהbîynâh · understandingH998
• of a manאָדָם'âdâm · manH120

Cross-references for Proverbs 30:2

• Job 42:3[You said to me] ‘Who is this that darkens and obscures counsel [by words] without knowledge?’ Therefore [I now see] I have [rashly] uttered that which I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
• Psalms 73:22Then I was senseless and ignorant; I was like a beast before You.
• Isaiah 6:5Then I said, “Woe is me! For I am ruined, Because I am a man of [ceremonially] unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”
• Romans 11:25I do not want you, believers, to be unaware of this mystery [God’s previously hidden plan]—so that you will not be wise in your own opinion—that a partial hardening has [temporarily] happened to Israel [to last] until the full number of the Gentiles has come in;
• 1 Corinthians 3:18Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool [discarding his worldly pretensions and acknowledging his lack of wisdom], so that he may become [truly] wise.
• 1 Corinthians 8:2If anyone imagines that he knows and understands anything [of divine matters, without love], he has not yet known as he ought to know.
• James 1:5If any of you lacks wisdom [to guide him through a decision or circumstance], he is to ask of [our benevolent] God, who gives to everyone generously and without rebuke or blame, and it will be given to him.
• Proverbs 5:12And you say, “How I hated instruction and discipline, And my heart despised correction and reproof!
• Psalms 92:6A senseless man [in his crude and uncultivated state] knows nothing, Nor does a [self-righteous] fool understand this:
• Jeremiah 10:14Every man has become [like a brute] irrational and stupid, without knowledge [of God]; Every goldsmith is shamed by his carved idols; For his molten images are frauds and lies, And there is no breath in them.
• 2 Peter 2:12But these [false teachers], like unreasoning animals, [mere] creatures of instinct, born to be captured and destroyed, reviling things they do not understand, will also perish in their own corruption [in their destroying they will be destroyed],

Commentaries on Proverbs 30:2

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 2Surely I am more brutish - These words can in no sense, nor by any mode of speech, be true of Solomon: for while he was the wisest of men, he could not have said that he was more brutish than any man, and had not the understanding of a man. It is saying nothing to the purpose, to say he was so independently of the Divine teaching. Had he put this in, even by innuendo, it might be legitimate: but he does not; nor is it by fair implication to be understood…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 2A confession of ignorance, with which compare the saying of Socrates that he was wise only so far as he knew that he knew nothing, or that of Asaph Psalm 73:22.Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1-3Agur admits he does not know everything (compare Psalm 73:22, where the psalmist calls himself senseless). The first step toward wisdom is admitting our ignorance.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2-42-4. brutish--stupid, a strong term to denote his lowly self-estimation; or he may speak of such as his natural condition, as contrasted with God's all-seeing comprehensive knowledge and almighty power. The questions of this clause emphatically deny the attributes mentioned to be those of any creature, thus impressively strengthening the implied reference of the former to God (compare De 30:12-14; Is 40:12; Ep 4:8).Read the comment

Topics related to Proverbs 30:2

• Humility

In the dictionaries

• Agur
• Convenient
• Folk
• Food
• Brute; Brutish
• God
• Massa
• Proverbs, the Book of
• Zoology

Commentaries on Proverbs 30

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings