דִּבְרֵי אָגוּר בִּן־יָקֶה הַמַּשָּׂא נְאֻם הַגֶּבֶר לְאִיתִיאֵל לְאִיתִיאֵל וְאֻכָל

The words of Agur son of Yakeh, an unknown personage. The Sages maintain that this is one of the names of King Solomon himself. Solomon had many names: The Bible itself calls him both Solomon and Yedidya, and it is accepted that the title Kohelet refers to Solomon as well. Accordingly, the Sages expound the name Agur son of Yakeh as a description of one who collects [oger] words of wisdom and then spits them out [mekiam], or emits them for others to hear. These words are the oration [massa], a kind of prophetic vision. Alternatively, Massa is part of Agur’s name or title, reflecting the name of his hometown or ethnic group. The utterance of the man to Itiel, or alternatively, by Itiel. Whether Itiel is the one delivering the speech or Agur’s intended audience, his identity is unknown. However, his name can be interpreted literally, which appears to be the way it is used in the final phrase of the verse: To Itiel and Ukal, meaning God [El] is with me [iti], and therefore I am capable of [ukhal] succeeding. This is an esoteric introduction to the oration that follows.

כִּי בַעַר אָנֹכִי מֵאִישׁ וְלֹא־בִינַת אָדָם לִי

The address begins with a declaration whose context is also unknown: For I am a boor among men, I lack discernment in comparison to others, and the understanding of man is not mine, as I am merely a simple person.

וְלֹא־לָמַדְתִּי חָכְמָה וְדַעַת קְדֹשִׁים אֵדָע

I have not learned wisdom, nor do I know the sacred knowledge.

מִי עָלָה־שָׁמַיִם וַיֵּרַד מִי אָסַף־רוּחַ בְּחָפְנָיו מִי צָרַר־מַיִם בַּשִּׂמְלָה מִי הֵקִים כָּל־אַפְסֵי אָרֶץ מַה־שְּׁמוֹ וּמַה־שֶּׁם־בְּנוֹ כִּי תֵדָע

Nevertheless, I would like to understand a few points: Who went up to heaven and then came down? Who gathered the wind in his fists? Who bound water in his garment? This is a reference to the clouds, which are spread across the sky like garments. Who established and built up all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son’s name, if you know? The answer to these questions is that there is no human being who could do such things. It is all the work of God, about whom it is impossible to know many details. All I know is that God is the omnipotent Master of the world.

כָּל־אִמְרַת אֱלוֹהַּ צְרוּפָה מָגֵן הוּא לַחֹסִים בּוֹ

Every saying of God is refined; He is a shield to those who rely on Him, whether or not they understand His ways. Therefore, they must listen to Him.

אַל־תּוֹסְףְּ עַל־דְּבָרָיו פֶּן יוֹכִיחַ בְּךָ וְנִכְזָבְתָּ

Do not add to His words, because you cannot comprehend all that occurs in the world, lest He rebuke you that your addition to His words is incorrect, and you will be found to be false. Alternatively, you will be disappointed, or you will become untrue to God, abandoning His word.

שְׁתַּיִם שָׁאַלְתִּי מֵאִתָּךְ אַל־תִּמְנַע מִמֶּנִּי בְּטֶרֶם אָמוּת

Agur now addresses God: Two matters I ask of You; do not deny me before I die:feed me my allotted bread.

שָׁוְא וּדְבַר־כָּזָב הַרְחֵק מִמֶּנִּי רֵאשׁ וָעֹשֶׁר אַל־תִּתֶּן־לִי הַטְרִיפֵנִי לֶחֶם חֻקִּי

First, distance vanity and falsehood from me; and second, do not give me either poverty or wealth; rather, feed me with my allotted bread, the food I require.

פֶּן־אֶשְׂבַּע וְכִחַשְׁתִּי וְאָמַרְתִּי מִי ה'וּפֶן־אִוָּרֵשׁ וְגָנַבְתִּי וְתָפַשְׂתִּי שֵׁם אֱלֹהָי

Agur explains why he wishes to avoid both excessive wealth and poverty: Lest I become too sated with money, and renounce God, and say, out of a sense that everything belongs to me and has been acquired as a result of my own strength: Who is the Lord? I do not know Him. And, by contrast, lest I become poor and be forced to steal, and when I am caught or accused of the crime, I appropriate the name of my God by swearing falsely in His name or by cursing in bitterness over my situation. It is dangerous both to be too wealthy and to be too poor, and therefore I request to receive only the food that I need, in a state of tranquility and comfort.

אַל־תַּלְשֵׁן עֶבֶד אֶל אֲדֹנָו פֶן־יְקַלֶּלְךָ וְאָשָׁמְתָּ

Do not slander a servant to his master, that he has not performed his service properly, lest he, the servant, curse you when he is punished as a result of your report, and you will be guilty of causing him harm, as you are not obliged to become involved with the relationship between a servant and his master. Your interference will backfire to your own detriment. The reason for the placement of these words of reproof in the context of this passage is unclear.

דּוֹר אָבִיו יְקַלֵּל וְאֶת־אִמּוֹ לֹא יְבָרֵךְ

The previous passages discussed the world at large as well as humanity as a whole. The next proverbs address specific generations of people, which are subject to the constraints of time. It is not clear which generation the speaker refers to, but the description here could be applied to many different periods. It is a generation that will curse its father and will not bless its mother,

דּוֹר טָהוֹר בְּעֵינָיו מִצֹּאָתוֹ לֹא רֻחָץ

a generation pure in its own eyes, but it has not been cleansed from its own excrement. The members of this generation have not grown up, and they are as soiled and fetid as infants in need of a clean diaper. This verse is perhaps referring to people who are preoccupied with external cleanliness while remaining impure inside;

דּוֹר מָה־רָמוּ עֵינָיו וְעַפְעַפָּיו יִנָּשֵׂאוּ

a generation, how haughty are its eyes, and its eyelids are raised up. They are haughty individuals who act as though they peer down on the world from above;

דּוֹר חֲרָבוֹת שִׁנָּיו וּמַאֲכָלוֹת מְתַלְּעֹתָיו לֶאֱכֹל עֲנִיִּים מֵאֶרֶץ וְאֶבְיוֹנִים מֵאָדָם

a generation whose teeth are like swords, and its incisors like slaughtering knives, as they seek to devour the poor from the earth, and the indigent from among mankind. This is a predatory, corrupt, and filthy generation.

לַעֲלוּקָה שְׁתֵּי בָנוֹת הַב הַב שָׁלוֹשׁ הֵנָּה לֹא תִשְׂבַּעְנָה אַרְבַּע לֹא־אָמְרוּ הוֹן

This aphorism is the first of a series that follow the recurring pattern of three and four, which is familiar from elsewhere in the Bible, and is often indicative of abundance in general: The leech, a parasite that attaches itself to animals and sucks their blood, has two daughters, who say: Give, give. This is an image of a creature that eats and devours without limits. Some consider the leech a symbol for Gehenna. There are three things that, like the leech, will not be sated, four that do not say: Enough.

שְׁאוֹל וְעֹצֶר רָחַם אֶרֶץ לֹא־שָׂבְעָה מַּיִם וְאֵשׁ לֹא־אָמְרָה הוֹן

These are the things that are never satisfied: The grave, or Gehenna; the barren womb, or the desire for offspring, which come from the womb; earth is not sated with water, as the earth continually swallows any water that is poured onto it; and fire does not say: Enough, but continues to burn whatever it encounters. The two daughters of the leech that demand: Give, give, represent these two pairs of items that incessantly take, one pair from the material world, the earth and fire, and the other from human life, the grave and the womb.

עַיִן תִּלְעַג לְאָב וְתָבֻז לִיקְּהַת אֵם יִקְּרוּהָ עֹרְבֵי־נַחַל וְיֹאכְלוּהָ בְנֵי־נָשֶׁר

The verse adds: An eye of a son that mocks a father for his forgetfulness and general inactivity in his old age, and scorns the wrinkles of his mother, her old age and the marks it leaves on her physical appearance, the ravens of the ravine will gouge it, and eaglets will eat it. Ravens are neither large nor particularly strong birds. Consequently, when they find a carcass they pluck out its soft, external parts, including the eyes. Likewise, young eagles find it hard to penetrate the hide of carcasses, and therefore they eat its eyes. This will be the punishment of one who uses his eyes to harm others.

שְׁלֹשָׁה הֵמָּה נִפְלְאוּ מִמֶּנִּי וְאַרְבָּעָ לֹא יְדַעְתִּים

They are three things that are beyond me, which I do not understand, and four that I do not know: Generally, in proverbs of this type, the fourth item is the focal point of the saying.

דֶּרֶךְ הַנֶּשֶׁר בַּשָּׁמַיִם דֶּרֶךְ נָחָשׁ עֲלֵי צוּר דֶּרֶךְ־אֳנִיָּה בְלֶב־יָם וְדֶרֶךְ גֶּבֶר בְּעַלְמָה

The way of an eagle in the heavens, how the heavy eagle manages to soar through the sky; the way of a serpent on a rock, the manner in which a serpent crawls and finds its way on a rock despite its lack of feet; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea, as it too charts a course without holding onto anything; and the fourth mystery is the way of a man with a young woman, the nature of their relationship and how it is formed. Much has been written on aeronautics, zoology, and seamanship, but even more has been composed about the male-female relationship; yet it still remains a mystery. Part of the wonder of these phenomena is that these creatures and objects leave no traces behind them.

כֵּן דֶּרֶךְ אִשָּׁה מְנָאָפֶת אָכְלָה וּמָחֲתָה פִיהָ וְאָמְרָה לֹא־פָעַלְתִּי אָוֶן

So too is the way of an adulterous woman: She eats, and wipes her mouth, and says: I did not do wrong. This is a graphic way of saying that the relationship between a man and a woman also leaves no traces, and no one else can truly know what transpired between the pair.

תַּחַת שָׁלוֹשׁ רָגְזָה אֶרֶץ וְתַחַת אַרְבַּע לֹא־תוּכַל שְׂאֵת

The text cites another aphorism which follows the same pattern: Because of three phenomena the earth quakes, and because of four, the fourth occurrence, it cannot bear:

תַּחַת עֶבֶד כִּי יִמְלוֹךְ וְנָבָל כִּי יִשְׂבַּע־לָחֶם

Because of a slave when he becomes king; and a scoundrel, a wicked, miserly individual, when he is sated with bread, is successful and thrives;

תַּחַת שְׂנוּאָה כִּי תִבָּעֵל וְשִׁפְחָה כִּי־תִירַשׁ גְּבִרְתָּהּ

because of a hated, adulterous woman, when it is she who is consorted with by her husband, while another wife receives no attention; and a maidservant when she supplants her mistress. The humiliation and disgrace which inevitably result from the reign of a servant are even more accentuated when a handmaid, whose status is even lower than that of a male servant, inherits her mistress’s position, and the mistress has no choice but to watch this unbearable sight submissively. Such injustices shock the world, causing it to “quake,” as it were.

אַרְבָּעָה הֵם קְטַנֵּי־אָרֶץ וְהֵמָּה חֲכָמִים מְחֻכָּמִים

They are four creatures that are little upon earth, but in practice they are exceedingly wise, and their unique talents enable them to thrive despite their diminutive size:

הַנְּמָלִים עַם לֹא־עָז וַיָּכִינוּ בַקַּיִץ לַחְמָם

The ants are a people, a community, not mighty (see commentary on 6:8), yet they prepare their food in the summer. They are intelligent enough, as it were, to prepare their food for the winter during the summer.

שְׁפַנִּים עַם לֹא־עָצוּם וַיָּשִׂימוּ בַסֶּלַע בֵּיתָם

The hyraxes are a people not powerful, they are not strong, and yet they place their house in the rock, as unlike other creatures they are capable of living in crevices in cliffs, where they can find shelter.

מֶלֶךְ אֵין לָאַרְבֶּה וַיֵּצֵא חֹצֵץ כֻּלּוֹ

There is no king for locusts, and yet they all go out in ranks to work together. When a swarm of locusts leaves its place, hundreds of thousands or even millions of them spread forth as one;

שְׂמָמִית בְּיָדַיִם תְּתַפֵּשׂ וְהִיא בְּהֵיכְלֵי מֶלֶךְ

the gecko grasps with hands, taking hold of surfaces with its legs in order to climb walls and even walk along ceilings, and yet it is found everywhere, even in the king’s palaces.

שְׁלֹשָׁה הֵמָּה מֵיטִיבֵי צָעַד וְאַרְבָּעָה מֵיטִבֵי לָכֶת

There are three creatures that are accomplished marchers, which walk well, and four accomplished walkers, as the fourth marches best of all:

לַיִשׁ גִּבּוֹר בַּבְּהֵמָה וְלֹא־יָשׁוּב מִפְּנֵי־כֹל

A lion is the mightiest among animals, and it does not retreat before anything; it marches securely without the need to watch its surroundings;

זַרְזִיר מָתְנַיִם אוֹ־תָיִשׁ וּמֶלֶךְ אַלְקוּם עִמּוֹ

the greyhound, a kind of hunting dog, which is also impudent and walks arrogantly; or the billy goat, as it likewise walks with confidence; and the powerful king, against whom no one rises. This a derisive comparison: The king is listed together with three animals that are not actually important but simply march with confidence. Similarly, the king may have great pride, but he often barely moves from his place. On the one hand, the list of these proud walkers serves as a warning to others not to challenge them; on the other hand, it is a subtle but sharp mockery of the arrogant behavior of kings.

אִם־נָבַלְתָּ בְהִתְנַשֵּׂא וְאִם־זַמּוֹתָ יָד לְפֶה

If you were demeaned, it is due to arrogance; if you have fallen and have been humiliated, it is because you initially sought to lift yourself up. You praised yourself with your words, but these ultimately brought shame upon you. If you conspired [zammota], put hand to mouth, be quiet. Alternatively, the verse means that if you block your mouth with your hand, like a muzzle [zemam] on an animal, no harm will befall you.

כִּי מִיץ חָלָב יוֹצִיא חֶמְאָה וּמִיץ־אַף יוֹצִיא דָם וּמִיץ אַפַּיִם יוֹצִיא רִיב

For compression of milk produces butter, and compression of a nose produces blood, and compression of wrath produces quarreling. The product of anger is a quarrel. One should remember that while beneficial products can be extracted from milk, a far less pleasant substance, blood, comes from the nose, and the least appealing product of all is that which comes from anger.