Proverbs 30:1-2

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Proverbs 30:1 sn This chapter has a title (30:1), Agur’s confession and petition (30:2-9), and a series of Agur’s admonitions (30:10-33).
2. Proverbs 30:1 tn The title הַמַּשָּׂא (hammassaʾ) means “the burden,” a frequently used title in prophetic oracles. It may be that the word is a place name, although it is more likely that it describes what follows as an important revelation.
3. Proverbs 30:1 tn The definite article is used here as a demonstrative, clarifying the reference to Agur.
4. Proverbs 30:1 sn The word translated “says” (נְאֻם, n^eʾum) is a verbal noun; it is also a term that describes an oracle. It is usually followed by the subjective genitive: “the oracle of this man to Ithiel.”
5. Proverbs 30:1 tn There have been numerous attempts to reinterpret the first two verses of the chapter. The Greek version translated the names “Ithiel” and “Ukal,” resulting in “I am weary, O God, I am weary and faint” (C. C. Torrey, “Proverbs Chapter 30,” JBL 73 [1954]: 93-96). The LXX’s approach is followed by some English versions (e.g., NRSV, NLT). The Midrash tried through a clever etymologizing translation to attribute the works to Solomon (explained by W. G. Plaut, Proverbs, 299). It is most likely that someone other than Solomon wrote these sayings; they have a different, almost non-proverbial, tone to them. See P. Franklyn, “The Sayings of Agur in Proverbs 30: Piety or Skepticism,” ZAW 95 (1983): 239-52.
6. Proverbs 30:2 tn The particle כִּי (ki) functions in an asseverative sense, “surely; indeed; truly” (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 73, §449).
7. Proverbs 30:2 tn The noun בַּעַר (baʿar) means “brutishness”; here it functions as a predicate adjective. It is followed by מֵאִישׁ (meʾish) expressing comparative degree: “more than a man” or “more than any man,” with “man” used in a generic sense. He is saying that he has fallen beneath the level of mankind. Cf. NRSV “I am too stupid to be human.”
8. Proverbs 30:2 tn Heb “than man.” The verse is using hyperbole; this individual feels as if he has no intelligence at all, that he is more brutish than any other human. Of course this is not true, or he would not be able to speculate on the God of the universe at all. On the other hand he may simply be employing sarcasm. He says what others think, knowing that it is not true.
9. Proverbs 30:2 tn Heb “the understanding of a man,” with “man” used attributively here.