Christian Standard Bible
Proverbs 30:2
2I am more stupid than any other person, and I lack a human’s ability to understand.
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 son of Jakeh. The pronouncement. The man’s oration to Ithiel, to Ithiel and Ucal: I am more stupid than any other person, and I lack a human’s ability to understand. 3I have not gained wisdom, and I have no knowledge of the Holy One. 4Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in his hands? Who has bound up the waters in a cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is the name of his son — if you know?
Read all of Proverbs 30Proverbs 30:2 word by word
כִּ֤י בַ֣עַר אָנֹכִ֣י מֵאִ֑ישׁ וְלֹֽא־בִינַ֖ת אָדָ֣ם לִֽי׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Proverbs 30:2
- Job 42:3You asked, “Who is this who conceals my counsel with ignorance?” Surely I spoke about things I did not understand, things too wondrous for me to know.
- Psalms 73:22I was stupid and didn’t understand; I was an unthinking animal toward you.
- Isaiah 6:5Then I said: Woe is me for I am ruined because I am a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips, and because my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Armies.
- Romans 11:25I don’t want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you will not be conceited: A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
- 1 Corinthians 3:18Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks he is wise in this age, let him become a fool so that he can become wise.
- 1 Corinthians 8:2If anyone thinks he knows anything, he does not yet know it as he ought to know it.
- James 1:5Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God — who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly — and it will be given to him.
- Proverbs 5:12and you will say, “How I hated discipline, and how my heart despised correction.
- Psalms 92:6A stupid person does not know, a fool does not understand this:
- Jeremiah 10:14Everyone is stupid and ignorant. Every goldsmith is put to shame by his carved image, for his cast images are a lie; there is no breath in them.
- 2 Peter 2:12But these people, like irrational animals — creatures of instinct born to be caught and destroyed — slander what they do not understand, and in their destruction they too 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
In the dictionaries
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
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