The words of Agur the son of {Or, Jakeh, of Massa See Genesis 25:14.}Jakeh; the {Or, burden}oracle.
The man saith {Or, as otherwise read, I have wearied myself, O God, I have wearied myself, O God, and am consumed: For I am &c.}unto Ithiel, unto Ithiel and Ucal:
Surely I am more brutish than any man,
And have not the understanding of a man;
And I have not learned wisdom,
{Or, That I should have the knowledge &c.}Neither have I the knowledge of the Holy One.
Who hath ascended up into heaven, and descended?
Who hath gathered the wind in his fists?
Who hath bound the waters in his garment?
Who hath established all the ends of the earth?
What is his name, and what is his son's name, if thou knowest?
Every word of God is {Hebrew: purified.}tried:
He is a shield unto them that take refuge in him.
Add thou not unto his words,
Lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.
Two things have I asked of thee;
Deny me them not before I die:
Remove far from me falsehood and lies;
Give me neither poverty nor riches;
Feed me with {Hebrew: the bread of my portion.}the food that is needful for me:
Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is Jehovah?
Or lest I be poor, and steal,
And {Hebrew: handle the name.}use profanely the name of my God.
Slander not a servant unto his master,
Lest he curse thee, and thou be held guilty.
There is a generation that curse their father,
And bless not their mother.
There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes,
And yet are not washed from their filthiness.
There is a generation, oh how lofty are their eyes!
And their eyelids are lifted up.
There is a generation whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives,
To devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men.
The {Or, vampire}horseleach hath two daughters, {Or, called}crying, Give, give.
There are three things that are never satisfied,
Yea, four that say not, Enough:
Sheol; and the barren womb;
The earth that is not satisfied with water;
And the fire that saith not, Enough.
The eye that mocketh at his father,
And despiseth to obey his mother,
The ravens of {Or, the brook}the valley shall pick it out,
And the {Or, vultures}young eagles shall eat it.
There are three things which are too wonderful for me,
Yea, four which I know not:
The way of an eagle in the air;
The way of a serpent upon a rock;
The way of a ship in the midst of the sea;
And the way of a man with a maiden.
So is the way of an adulterous woman;
She eateth, and wipeth her mouth,
And saith, I have done no wickedness.
{Hebrew: Under.}For three things the earth doth tremble,
And for four, which it cannot bear:
For a servant when he is king;
And a fool when he is filled with food;
For an odious woman when she is married;
And a handmaid that is heir to her mistress.
There are four things which are little upon the earth,
But they are exceeding wise:
The ants are a people not strong,
Yet they provide their food in the summer;
The conies are but a feeble folk,
Yet make they their houses in the rocks;
The locusts have no king,
Yet go they forth all of them by bands;
The lizard {Or, thou canst seize with thy hands}taketh hold with her hands,
Yet is she in kings' palaces.
There are three things which are stately in their march,
Yea, four which are stately in going:
The lion, which is mightiest among beasts,
And turneth not away for any;
The {Or, war-horse Hebrew: well girt (or, well knit) in the loins.}greyhound; the he-goat also;
And the king {Or, when his army is with him}against whom there is no rising up.
If thou hast done foolishly in lifting up thyself,
Or if thou hast thought evil,
Lay thy hand upon thy mouth.
For the {Hebrew: pressing.}churning of milk bringeth forth butter,
And the {Hebrew: pressing.}wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood;
So the {Hebrew: pressing.}forcing of wrath bringeth forth strife.
Querverweise zu Sprüche 30,14 Spr 30,14
There is that speaketh rashly like the piercings of a sword;But the tongue of the wise is health.
He that oppresseth the poor to increase his gain,And he that giveth to the rich, shall come only to want.
And I brake the {Hebrew: great teeth.}jaws of the unrighteous,And plucked the prey out of his teeth.
A needy man that oppresseth the poorIs like a sweeping rain {Hebrew: without food.}which leaveth no food.
Arise, O Jehovah; Save me, O my God:For thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek bone;Thou hast broken the teeth of the wicked.
He sitteth in the lurking-places of the villages;In the secret places doth he murder the innocent;His eyes are privily set against the {Or, hapless}helpless.
Thy tongue deviseth very wickedness,Like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
He lurketh in secret as a lion in his covert;He lieth in wait to catch the poor:He doth catch the poor, when he draweth him in his net.
My soul is among lions;I {Or, must lie}lie among them that are set on fire,Even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows,And their tongue a sharp sword.
Because of the oppression of the poor, because of the sighing of the needy,Now will I arise, saith Jehovah;I will set him in the safety he panteth for.
Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth:Break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Jehovah.
Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge,Who eat up my people as they eat bread,And call not upon Jehovah?
And, behold, another beast, a second, like to a bear; and {Or, as otherwise read, it raised up one dominion}it was raised up on one side, and three ribs were in its mouth between its teeth: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.
After this I beheld, and, lo, another, like a leopard, which had upon its back four wings of a bird; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.
After this I saw in the night-visions, and, behold, a fourth beast, terrible and {Or, dreadful}powerful, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth; it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with its feet: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.
Then I returned and saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and, behold, the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter.
And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
And the instruments of the churl are evil: he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the {Or, poor}meek with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right.
they that pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father go unto the same maiden, to profane my holy name:
Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, that oppress the poor, that crush the needy, that say unto their lords, Bring, and let us drink.
Hear this, O ye that would swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail,
Woe to them that devise iniquity and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand.
And they covet fields, and seize them; and houses, and take them away: and they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.
And I said, Hear, I pray you, ye heads of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel: is it not for you to know justice?
ye who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones;
who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them, and break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron.
Then shall they cry unto Jehovah, but he will not answer them; yea, he will hide his face from them at that time, according as they have wrought evil in their doings.
Thus saith Jehovah concerning the prophets that make my people to err; that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and whoso putteth not into their mouths, they even {Hebrew: sanctify.}prepare war against him:
Thou {Or, hast pierced}didst pierce with his own staves the head of his {Or, hordes Or, villages}warriors:They came as a whirlwind to scatter me;Their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly.
Her princes in the midst of her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they {Or, gnaw not the bones on the morrow}leave nothing till the morrow.
- - -
Come now, ye rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you.
Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten.
Your gold and your silver are rusted; and their rust shall be for a testimony {Or, unto}against you, and shall eat your flesh as fire. Ye have laid up your treasure in the last days.
Behold, the hire of the laborers who mowed your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth out: and the cries of them that reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.