Pure Words: Trusting the Holy One Who Has Spoken

The words of Agur son of Jakeh, [man of] Massa; the speech of the man to Ithiel, to Ithiel and Ucal: I am more brutish than anyone else; I lack common sense. I have not learned wisdom,Nor do I possess knowledge of the Holy One. Who has ascended heaven and come down?Who has gathered up the wind in the hollow of his hand?Who has wrapped the waters in his garment?Who has established all the extremities of the earth?What is his name or his son’s name, if you know it? Every word of God is pure,A shield to those who seek refuge. Do not add to God’s words,Lest you be indicted and proved to be a liar. Two things I ask of You; do not deny them to me before I die: Keep lies and false words far from me;Give me neither poverty nor riches,But provide me with my daily bread, Lest, being sated, I renounce, saying,“Who is GOD?”Or, being impoverished, I take to theftAnd profane the name of my God. Do not inform on a slave to his master,Lest he curse you and you incur guilt. There is a breed of people that brings a curse on its fathersAnd brings no blessing to its mothers, A breed that thinks itself pure,Though it is not washed of its filth; A breed so haughty of bearing, so supercilious; A breed whose teeth are swords,Whose jaws are knives,Ready to devour the poor of the land,The needy among us. The leech has two daughters, “Give!” and “Give!”Three things are insatiable;Four never say, “Enough!”: Sheol, an infertile womb,Earth that cannot get enough water,And fire that never says, “Enough!” The eye that mocks a fatherAnd disdains the homage due a mother—The ravens of the brook will gouge it out,Young eagles will devour it. Three things are beyond me;Four I cannot fathom: How an eagle makes its way over the sky;How a snake makes its way over a rock;How a ship makes its way through the high seas;How a man has his way with a maiden. Such is the way of an adulteress:She eats, wipes her mouth,And says, “I have done no wrong.” The earth shudders at three things,At four that it cannot bear: A slave who becomes king;A scoundrel sated with food; A loathsome woman who gets married;A maidservant who supplants her mistress. Four are among the tiniest on earth,Yet they are the wisest of the wise: Ants are a folk without power,Yet they prepare food for themselves in summer; The badger is a folk without strength,Yet it makes its home in the rock; The locusts have no king,Yet they all march forth in formation; You can catch the lizard in your hand,Yet it is found in royal palaces. There are three that are stately of stride,Four that carry themselves well: The lion is mightiest among the beasts,And recoils before none; The greyhound, the he-goat,The king whom none dares resist. If you have been scandalously arrogant,If you have been a schemer,Then clap your hand to your mouth. As milk under pressure produces butter,And a nose under pressure produces blood,So patience under pressure produces strife.

Proverbs 30:1-20 presents Agur's humble acknowledgment of human limitation alongside a profound trust in the purity and sufficiency of God's word. Faith here is expressed through reverent dependence rather than confident self-mastery.