The wise man thinketh humbly of himself. His prayer and sentiments upon
certain virtues and vices.
30:1. The words of Gatherer the son of Vomiter. The vision which the
man spoke, with whom God is, and who being strengthened by God, abiding
with him, said:
Gatherer, etc.... Or, as it is in the Latin, Congregans the son of
Vomens. The Latin interpreter has given us in this place the
signification of the Hebrew names, instead of the names themselves,
which are in the Hebrew, Agur the son of Jakeh. But whether this Agur
be the same person as Solomon, as many think, or a different person,
whose doctrine was adopted by Solomon, and inserted among his parables
or proverbs, is uncertain.
30:2. I am the most foolish of men, and the wisdom of men is not with
me.
30:3. I have not learned wisdom, and have not known the science of
saints.
30:4. Who hath ascended up into heaven, and descended? who hath held
the wind in his hands? who hath bound up the waters together as in a
garment? who hath raised up all the borders of the earth? what is his
name, and what is the name of his son, if thou knowest?
30:5. Every word of God is fire tried: he is a buckler to them that
hope in him.
Is fire tried.... That is, most pure, like gold purified by fire.
30:6. Add not any thing to his words, lest thou be reproved and found a
liar:
30:7. Two things I have asked of thee, deny them not to me before I
die.
30:8. Remove far from me vanity, and lying words. Give me neither
beggary, nor riches: give me only the necessaries of life:
30:9. Lest perhaps being filled, I should be tempted to deny, and say:
Who is the Lord? or being compelled by poverty, I should steal, and
forswear the name of my God.
30:10. Accuse not a servant to his master, lest he curse thee, and thou
fall.
30:11. There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not
bless their mother.
30:12. A generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet are not
washed from their filthiness.
30:13. A generation, whose eyes are lofty, and their eyelids lifted up
on high.
30:14. A generation that for teeth hath swords, and grindeth with their
jaw teeth, to devour the needy from off the earth, and the poor from
among men.
30:15. The horseleech hath two daughters that say: Bring, bring. There
are three things that never are satisfied, and the fourth never saith:
It is enough.
The horseleech.... Concupiscence, which hath two daughters that are
never satisfied, viz., lust and avarice.
30:16. Hell and the mouth of the womb, and the earth which is not
satisfied with water: and the fire never saith: It is enough.
30:17. The eye that mocketh at his father, and that despiseth the
labour of his mother in bearing him, let the ravens of the brooks pick
it out, and the young eagles eat it.
30:18. Three things are hard to me, and the fourth I am utterly
ignorant of.
30:19. 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
in youth.
30:20. Such also is the way of an adulterous woman, who eateth and
wipeth her mouth, and saith: I have done no evil.
30:21. By three things the earth is disturbed, and the fourth it cannot
bear.
30:22. By a slave when he reigneth: by a fool when he is filled with
meat:
30:23. By an odious woman when she is married: and by a bondwoman when
she is heir to her mistress.
30:24. There are four very little things of the earth, and they are
wiser than the wise.
30:25. The ants, a feeble people, which provide themselves food in the
harvest:
30:26. The rabbit, a weak people, which maketh its bed in the rock:
30:27. The locust hath no king, yet they all go out by their bands:
30:28. The stellio supporteth itself on hands, and dwelleth in kings’
houses.
The stellio.... A kind of house lizard marked with spots like stars,
from whence it has its name.
30:29. There are three things, which go well, and the fourth that
walketh happily:
30:30. A lion, the strongest of beasts, who hath no fear of any thing
he meeteth:
30:31. A cock girded about the loins: and a ram: and a king, whom none
can resist.
30:32. There is that hath appeared a fool after he was lifted up on
high: for if he had understood, he would have laid his hand upon his
mouth.
30:33. And he that strongly squeezeth the paps to bring out milk,
straineth out butter: and he that violently bloweth his nose, bringeth
out blood: and he that provoketh wrath, bringeth forth strife.