“For three things the earth tremble, and under four, it can’t bear up:
Parallel translations
- KJV For three things the earth is disquieted, and for four which it cannot bear:
- BSB Under three things the earth trembles, under four it cannot bear up:
- NKJV For three things the earth is perturbed, Yes, for four it cannot bear up:
- NASB ¶Under three things the earth quakes, And under four, it cannot endure:
- NLT There are three things that make the earth tremble— no, four it cannot endure:
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
There are situations the earth cannot bear, introducing a list of intolerable social reversals.
Overview
Using the numerical saying form, Agur names conditions so out of order that the world itself seems to tremble. The point is that certain inversions of proper place produce instability and harm. The verses that follow illustrate how power or privilege given to the unfit overturns God's good order for human life.
Cross-references & the web
No cross-references recorded for this verse.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 30:21 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.