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Thursday, July 17th, 2025
the Week of Proper 10 / Ordinary 15
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Read the Bible

Bible in Basic English

Proverbs 30:2

For I am more like a beast than any man, I have no power of reasoning like a man:

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Humility;   Thompson Chain Reference - Self-Abasement;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Proverb, the Book of;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Pardon;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Proverbs, Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Agur;   Jakeh;   Massa;   Proverbs, Book of;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Brute;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Eliezer B. Nathan of Mayence;   She'elot U-Teshubot;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
I am more stupid than any other person,and I lack a human’s ability to understand.
Hebrew Names Version
"Surely I am the most ignorant man, And don't have a man's understanding.
King James Version
Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man.
English Standard Version
Surely I am too stupid to be a man. I have not the understanding of a man.
New American Standard Bible
I am certainly more stupid than any man, And I do not have the understanding of a man;
New Century Version
"I am the most stupid person there is, and I have no understanding.
Amplified Bible
Surely I am more brutish and stupid than any man, And I do not have the understanding of a man [for I do not know what I do not know].
World English Bible
"Surely I am the most ignorant man, And don't have a man's understanding.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Surely I am more foolish then any man, and haue not the vnderstanding of a man in me.
Legacy Standard Bible
Surely I am more senseless than any man,And I do not have the understanding of mankind.
Berean Standard Bible
Surely I am the most ignorant of men, and I lack the understanding of a man.
Contemporary English Version
I am far too stupid to be considered human.
Complete Jewish Bible
I am more boorish than anyone, I lack human discernment;
Darby Translation
Truly *I* am more stupid than any one; and I have not a man's intelligence.
Easy-to-Read Version
I am stupid. I am not as smart as other people are.
George Lamsa Translation
Surely, I am weak minded, and have not the understanding of men.
Good News Translation
I am more like an animal than a human being; I do not have the sense we humans should have.
Lexham English Bible
Certainly I am more stupid than a man, and the understanding of humankind is not for me.
Literal Translation
Surely I am more brutish than anyone, and I do not have the understanding of a man.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
For though I am ye leest of all, & haue no mas vnderstodige
American Standard Version
Surely I am more brutish than any man, And have not the understanding of a man;
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Surely I am brutish, unlike a man, and have not the understanding of a man;
King James Version (1611)
Surely I am more brutish then any man, and haue not the vnderstanding of a man.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Surely I am more foolishe then any man, and haue no mans vnderstandyng.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
By reason of the sins of ungodly men quarrels arise; but a wise man will quell them.
English Revised Version
Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man:
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
and seide, Y am the moost fool of men; and the wisdom of men is not with me.
Update Bible Version
Surely I am more brutish than any man, And don't have the understanding of man;
Webster's Bible Translation
Surely I [am] more brutish than [any] man, and have not the understanding of a man.
New English Translation
Surely I am more brutish than any other human being, and I do not have human understanding;
New King James Version
Surely I am more stupid than any man, And do not have the understanding of a man.
New Living Translation
I am too stupid to be human, and I lack common sense.
New Life Bible
For sure, I am more foolish than any man, and I do not have the understanding of a man.
New Revised Standard
Surely I am too stupid to be human; I do not have human understanding.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Surely, more brutish, am, I, than any man, nor doth, the understanding of a son of earth, pertain to me;
Douay-Rheims Bible
I am the most foolish of men, and the wisdom of men is not with me.
Revised Standard Version
Surely I am too stupid to be a man. I have not the understanding of a man.
Young's Literal Translation
For I am more brutish than any one, And have not the understanding of a man.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Surely I am more stupid than any man, And I do not have the understanding of a man.

Contextual Overview

1 The words of Agur, the son of Jakeh, from Massa. The man says: I am full of weariness, O God, I am full of weariness; O God, I have come to an end: 2 For I am more like a beast than any man, I have no power of reasoning like a man: 3 I have not got wisdom by teaching, so that I might have the knowledge of the Holy One. 4 Who has gone up to heaven and come down? who has taken the winds in his hands, prisoning the waters in his robe? by whom have all the ends of the earth been fixed? what is his name, and what is his son's name, if you are able to say? 5 Every word of God is tested: he is a breastplate to those who put their faith in him. 6 Make no addition to his words, or he will make clear your error, and you will be seen to be false.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

I am: Job 42:3-6, Psalms 73:22, Isaiah 6:5, Romans 11:25, 1 Corinthians 3:18, 1 Corinthians 8:2, James 1:5

brutish: Proverbs 5:12, Psalms 92:6, Jeremiah 10:14, 2 Peter 2:12-16

Reciprocal: Job 11:12 - would Job 37:19 - we Psalms 49:10 - fool Psalms 73:16 - When Psalms 139:6 - knowledge Isaiah 19:11 - brutish Acts 8:31 - How Romans 7:14 - but Ephesians 3:8 - who am

Cross-References

Genesis 16:2
And Sarai said to Abram, See, the Lord has not let me have children; go in to my servant, for I may get a family through her. And Abram did as Sarai said.
Genesis 20:18
For the Lord had kept all the women of the house of Abimelech from having children, because of Sarah, Abraham's wife.
Genesis 25:21
Isaac made prayer to the Lord for his wife because she had no children; and the Lord gave ear to his prayer, and Rebekah became with child.
Genesis 29:31
Now the Lord, seeing that Leah was not loved, gave her a child; while Rachel had no children.
Genesis 30:5
And Bilhah became with child, and gave birth to a son.
Genesis 30:6
Then Rachel said, God has been my judge, and has given ear to my voice, and has given me a son; so he was named Dan.
Genesis 30:13
And Leah said, Happy am I! and all women will give witness to my joy: and she gave him the name Asher.
Genesis 30:14
Now at the time of the grain-cutting, Reuben saw some love-fruits in the field, and took them to his mother Leah. And Rachel said to her, Let me have some of your son's love-fruits.
Genesis 31:36
Then Jacob was angry with Laban, and said, What crime or sin have I done that you have come after me with such passion?
Genesis 50:19
And Joseph said, Have no fear: am I in the place of God?

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Surely I am more brutish than [any] man,.... "Every man is [become] brutish in his knowledge"; man in his original state was a knowing creature but sinning lost his knowledge, and "became like the beasts that perish"; hence we read of the "brutish among the people": but Agur thought himself not only brutish among the rest, but more brutish than any. So Plato o says of some souls living on earth, that they are θηριωδεις, of a brutish nature; see Jeremiah 10:14. Or I think the words may be rendered, "a brute [am] I [rather] than a man" p; have more of the brute than of the man, especially in the sight and presence of God; a very beast before him, or in comparison of other wise, holy, and good men; or with respect to the knowledge of spiritual, divine, and heavenly things, Psalms 73:22; or "a brute [was] I from [the time]", or "[ever since I was] a man" q; as soon as be was born, being born in sin, and like a wild ass's colt, Job 11:12;

and have not the understanding of a man; or "of Adam" r; who was made after the image of God, which consisted in knowledge as well as holiness; who knew much of God, his nature, perfections, and persons; of the creatures, and the works of his hands and of all things in nature; but affecting more knowledge than he should lost in a great measure what he had, and brought his posterity in and left them in a state of blindness and ignorance, one of whose sons Agur was: or his meaning is, that he had not the understanding, as not of Adam in innocence, and of prophets and other eminent men of God, so not of ordinary men of those who had, he least share of the knowledge of divine things. Aben Ezra, who takes Ithiel and Ucal to be scholars or companions of Agur, supposes, that they asked him questions concerning the divine Being, nature, and perfections, to which he answers in this strain; showing his insufficiency to give them any instruction or satisfaction in such matters, or to discourse on such sublime subjects: or rather his view was to show the blindness and ignorance of human nature with respect to divine things he was about to treat of; and particularly to observe, that the knowledge of a Saviour, and salvation by him, were not from nature, and attainable by that; and that a man must first know himself, his own folly and ignorance, before he can have any true knowledge of Ithiel and Ucal, the mighty Saviour and Redeemer; of the need of him, and of interest in him. Some think his view is to prove that his words, his prophecy, or what he was about to say, or did say, must be owing entirely to divine inspiration; since he was of himself; and without a divine revelation, so very blind, dark, and ignorant; it could not be owing to any natural sagacity of his, who was more brutish than any; nor to any acquired knowledge, or the instruction of men, since he had none, as follows; and so כי, with which the words begin, may be rendered "for" or "because" s, as it usually is, "for I am more brutish, than any man", c.

o De Leg. l. 10. p, 959. p בער אנכי מאיש "bardus sum prae viro", Mercerus "brutus ego prae viro", Cocceius, Schultens. q "Nam brutus sum ex quo vir sum", Junius Tremellius, so Cartwright. r "Nec est mihi intelligentia Adami", Cartwright. s כי "nam", Junius Tremellius "quia", Pagninus, Montanus "quoniam", Michaelis.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

A confession of ignorance, with which compare the saying of Socrates that he was wise only so far as he knew that he knew nothing, or that of Asaph Psalms 73:22.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Proverbs 30:2. Surely I am more brutish — These words can in no sense, nor by any mode of speech, be true of Solomon: for while he was the wisest of men, he could not have said that he was more brutish than any man, and had not the understanding of a man. It is saying nothing to the purpose, to say he was so independently of the Divine teaching. Had he put this in, even by innuendo, it might be legitimate: but he does not; nor is it by fair implication to be understood. Solomon is not supposed to have written the Proverbs after he fell from God. Then indeed he might have said he had been more brutish than any man. But Agur might have used these words with strict propriety, for aught we know; for it is very probable that he was a rustic, without education, and without any human help, as was the prophet Amos; and that all that he knew now was by the inspiration of the Almighty, independently of which he was rustic and uneducated.


 
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