Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man.
Parallel translations
- WEB “Surely I am the most ignorant man, and don’t have a man’s understanding.
- BSB Surely I am the most ignorant of men, and I lack the understanding of a man.
- NKJV Surely I am more stupid than any man, And do not have the understanding of a man.
- NASB I am certainly more stupid than any man, And I do not have the understanding of a man;
- NLT I am too stupid to be human, and I lack common sense.
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
Agur humbly confesses that, before God, he feels utterly without understanding.
Overview
Far from boasting in his wisdom, the sage opens with self-abasement, recognizing how small human insight is next to God's. This humility is itself the beginning of true knowledge, for the fear of the LORD requires acknowledging our limits. It echoes the posture every believer takes before the infinite God, casting us upon the One in whom all wisdom is hidden, Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Ps 73:22So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee.
- Prov 5:12And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
- 1 Cor 3:18Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.
- Ps 49:10For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others.
- Ps 92:6A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this.
- Jer 10:14Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
- Job 42:3–6Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.
- Jas 1:5If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
- Rom 11:25For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
- Isa 6:5Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
- 2 Pet 2:12–16But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;
- 1 Cor 8:2And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 30:2 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.