1The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, the burden; the utterance of the man to Ithiel, to Ithiel and Ucal.
2For I am more brutish than a man (ish), and I do not have the understanding of a man (adam).
3And I have not learned wisdom, nor do I know the knowledge of the Holy Ones.
4Who has ascended to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the spirit (ruach) in his fists? Who has bound the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son's name, if you know?
5Every saying of God is refined; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
6Do not add to his words, lest he reprove you, and you be proven a liar.
7Two things I have asked of you; do not withhold them from me before I die:
8Vanity and a lying word remove far from me; poverty and riches do not give me; feed me the bread of my statute (choq);
9lest I be full and deny, and say, "Who is YHWH?" and lest I be poor and steal, and lay hold of the name of my God.
10Do not slander a servant to his master, lest he curse you, and you be held guilty.
11A generation that curses its father, and does not bless its mother.
12A generation pure in its own eyes, yet not washed from its filth.
13A generation—how lofty are its eyes, and its eyelids are lifted up.
14A generation whose teeth are swords, and its jaw-teeth knives, to devour the poor from the earth, and the needy from among men (adam).
15The leech has two daughters: "Give! Give!" Three there are that are not satisfied, four that do not say "Enough":
16Sheol; and the barren womb; the earth not satisfied with water; and fire that does not say "Enough."
17An eye that mocks at a father, and despises obedience to a mother—the ravens of the valley will pick it out, and the sons of the eagle will eat it.
18Three things there are too wonderful for me, and four I do not know:
19The way of the eagle in the heavens, the way of a serpent upon a rock, the way of a ship in the heart of the sea, and the way of a man with a maiden.
20So is the way of an adulterous woman (ishah): she eats, and wipes her mouth, and says, "I have done no iniquity."
21Under three things the earth quakes, and under four it is not able to bear up:
22under a servant when he reigns, and a fool when he is satisfied with bread;
23under a hated woman when she is married, and a maidservant when she dispossesses her mistress.
24Four are the small ones of the earth, yet they are wise, made wise:
25the ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their food in the summer;
26the rock-badgers are a people not mighty, yet they make their house in the crag;
27the locust has no king, yet it goes forth in ranks, all of it;
28the lizard you can grasp with the hands, yet it is in the palaces of a king.
29Three things there are that are stately in stride, and four stately in walking:
30the lion, mightiest among the beasts, who does not turn back before any;
31the one girded in the loins, or the he-goat, and a king against whom there is no rising up.
32If you have acted foolishly in exalting yourself, or if you have schemed—hand to mouth!
33For the pressing of milk brings forth curd, and the pressing of the nose brings forth blood, and the pressing of wrath brings forth strife.