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Remove far from me falsehood and lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food that is needful for me;
Proverbs 30:8 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:
  • BSB Keep falsehood and deceitful words far from me. Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the bread that is my portion.
  • NKJV Remove falsehood and lies far from me; Give me neither poverty nor riches— Feed me with the food allotted to me;
  • NASB Keep deception and lies far from me, Give me neither poverty nor riches; Feed me with the food that is my portion,
  • NLT First, help me never to tell a lie. Second, give me neither poverty nor riches! Give me just enough to satisfy my needs.

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 asks God to keep him from falsehood and to give him neither poverty nor riches, but just what he needs.

Overview

His two requests are moral purity and material contentment, recognizing that both deceit and the extremes of wealth and want endanger the soul. Asking only for daily bread, he seeks a heart kept faithful through moderation. This anticipates Jesus' teaching to pray for daily bread and to trust the Father's provision rather than chase riches.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 26

  • 1 Tim 6:6–8But godliness with contentment is great gain.
  • Ps 62:9–10Surely men of low degree are just a breath, and men of high degree are a lie. In the balances they will go up. They are together lighter than a breath.
  • Ps 119:37Turn my eyes away from looking at worthless things. Revive me in your ways.
  • Matt 6:33But seek first God’s Kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well.
  • Luke 11:3Give us day by day our daily bread.
  • Ps 119:29Keep me from the way of deceit. Grant me your law graciously!
  • Job 23:12I haven’t gone back from the commandment of his lips. I have treasured up the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.
  • Prov 21:6Getting treasures by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor for those who seek death.
  • Matt 6:11Give us today our daily bread.
  • 2 Kgs 25:30and for his allowance, there was a continual allowance given him from the king, every day a portion, all the days of his life.
  • Prov 22:8He who sows wickedness reaps trouble, and the rod of his fury will be destroyed.
  • Exod 16:35The children of Israel ate the manna forty years, until they came to an inhabited land. They ate the manna until they came to the borders of the land of Canaan.
  • Acts 14:15“Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to the living God, who made the sky, the earth, the sea, and all that is in them;
  • Exod 16:15When the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they didn’t know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread which Yahweh has given you to eat.”
  • Eccl 1:2“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher; “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”
  • Jer 37:21Then Zedekiah the king commanded, and they committed Jeremiah into the court of the guard. They gave him daily a loaf of bread out of the bakers’ street, until all the bread in the city was gone. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.
  • Isa 5:18Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and wickedness as with cart rope;
  • Exod 16:21–22They gathered it morning by morning, everyone according to his eating. When the sun grew hot, it melted.
  • Jer 52:34and for his allowance, there was a continual allowance given him by the king of Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his life.
  • Gen 48:15–16He blessed Joseph, and said, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has fed me all my life long to this day,
  • Exod 16:18When they measured it with an omer, he who gathered much had nothing over, and he who gathered little had no lack. They gathered every man according to his eating.
  • Prov 23:5Why do you set your eyes on that which is not? For it certainly sprouts wings like an eagle and flies in the sky.
  • John 2:8He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the ruler of the feast.” So they took it.
  • Exod 16:29Behold, because Yahweh has given you the Sabbath, therefore he gives you on the sixth day the bread of two days. Everyone stay in his place. Let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.”
  • Gen 28:20Jacob vowed a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and clothing to put on,
  • Isa 59:4No one sues in righteousness, and no one pleads in truth. They trust in vanity, and speak lies. They conceive mischief, and give birth to iniquity.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (7)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Proverbs videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Proverbs 30:8YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on ProverbsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 30:8 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.