Proverbs 30:18
“Numerical Sayings: Mysteries of Movement”Proverbs 30:18–20
Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain
Bible text: Berean Standard Bible · Public domain
Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain
Bible text: World English Bible, Messianic edition · Public domain
Bible text: Geneva Bible (1599) · Public domain
Bible text: Young's Literal Translation · Public domain
- שְׁלֹשָׁהshe·lo·Shahthree [things]H7969Adj-csAdjective Numerical Singular common gender Absolute
- הֵמָּהHe·mahtheyH1992Pro-3mpPronoun Personal 3rd Plural Masculine
- נִפְלְאוּnif·le·'Uthey are [too] wonderfulH6381V-Niphal-Perf-3cpVerb Niphal Perfect 3rd Plural common gender
- מִמֶּנִּיmi·Me·nifor meH4480Prep ¦ 1csPrepositionמִמֶּforנִּיme
- וְאַרְבָּעָהve·'ar·ba'and four [things]H702Conj-w ¦ Adj-csAdjective Numerical Singular common gender Absoluteוְandאַרְבָּעָהfour [things]
- לֹאlo'notH3808NegParticle Negative
- יְדַעְתִּיםye·da'·TimI know themH3045V-Qal-Perf-1cs ¦ 3mpVerb Qal Perfect 1st Singular common genderיְדַעְתִּיI knowםthem
English is a literal word-by-word gloss of the Hebrew, not the KJV's wording. Why?
This is the original text the KJV's translators worked from — each Hebrew word with its own literal English meaning in this verse, prepared by scholars at Tyndale House, Cambridge. The KJV translates whole sentences, not word by word, so its wording differs: one Hebrew word can become several English words, and the KJV may choose “the LORD” where the gloss reads “Yahweh”. Both are faithful — they answer different questions. For the KJV's own rendering, switch to the KJV text.
Words in [ ] are added by the English.
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Public-domain commentary
Matthew Henry
From his Commentary on the Whole Bible. Henry wrote on whole passages, and this entry covers Proverbs 30:18–23. He set out his notes in a three-level outline, kept here as he numbered it.
Here is, I. An account of four things that are unsearchable, too wonderful to be fully known. And here,
1.The first three are natural things, and are only designed as comparisons for the illustration of the last. We cannot trace,
(1.)An eagle in the air. Which way she has flown cannot be discovered either by the footstep or by the scent, as the way of a beast may upon ground; nor can we account for the wonderful swiftness of her flight, how soon she has gone beyond our ken.
(2.)A serpent upon a rock. The way of a serpent in the sand we may find by the track, but not of a serpent upon the hard rock; nor can we describe how a serpent will, without feet, in a little time creep to the top of a rock.
(3.)A ship in the midst of the sea. The leviathan indeed makes a path to shine after him, one would think the deep to be hoary (Job 41:32), but a ship leaves no mark behind it, and sometimes it is so tossed upon the waves that one would wonder how it lives at sea and gains its point. The kingdom of nature is full of wonders, marvellous things which the God of nature does, past finding out.
2.The fourth is a mystery of iniquity, more unaccountable than any of these; it belongs to the depths of Satan, that deceitfulness and that desperate wickedness of the heart which none can know, Jeremiah 17:9. It is twofold: - (1.) The cursed arts which a vile adulterer has to debauch a maid, and to persuade her to yield to his wicked and abominable lust. This is what a wanton poet wrote a whole book of, long since, De arte amandi - On the art of love. By what pretensions and protestations of love, and all its powerful charms, promises of marriage, assurances of secresy and reward, is many an unwary virgin brought to sell her virtue, and honour, and peace, and soul, and all to a base traitor; for so all sinful lust is in the kingdom of love. The more artfully the temptation is managed the more watchful and resolute ought every pure heart to be against it. (2.) The cursed arts which a vile adulteress has to conceal her wickedness, especially from her husband, from whom she treacherously departs; so close are her intrigues with her lewd companions, and so craftily disguised, that it is as impossible to discover her as to track an eagle in the air. She eats the forbidden fruit, after the similitude of Adam's transgression, and then wipes her mouth, that it may not betray itself, and with a bold and impudent face says, I have done no wickedness. [1.] To the world she denies the fact, and is ready to swear it that she is as chaste and modest as any woman, and never did the wickedness she is suspected of. Those are the works of darkness which are industriously kept from coming to the light. [2.] To her own conscience (if she have any left) she denies the fault, and will not own that that great wickedness is any wickedness at all, but an innocent entertainment. See Hosea 12:7, Hosea 12:8. Thus multitudes ruin their souls by calling evil good and out-facing their convictions with a self-justification.
II.An account of four things that are intolerable, that is, four sorts of persons that are very troublesome to the places where they live and the relations and companies they are in; the earth is disquieted for them, and groans under them as a burden it cannot bear, and they are all much alike: - 1. A servant when he is advanced, and entrusted with power, who is, of all others, most insolent and imperious; witness Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, Nehemiah 2:10. 2. A fool, a silly, rude, boisterous, vicious man, who when he has grown rich, and is partaking of the pleasures of the table, will disturb all the company with his extravagant talk and the affronts he will put upon those about him. 3. An ill-natured, cross-grained, woman, when she gets a husband, one who, having made herself odious by her pride and sourness, so that one would not have thought any body would ever love her, yet, if at last she be married, that honourable estate makes her more intolerably scornful and spiteful than ever. It is a pity that that which should sweeten the disposition should have a contrary effect. A gracious woman, when she is married, will be yet more obliging. 4. An old maid-servant that has prevailed with her mistress, by humouring her, and, as we say, getting the length of her foot, to leave her what she has, or is as dear to her as if she was to be her heir, such a one likewise will be intolerably proud and malicious, and think all too little that her mistress gives her, and herself wronged if any thing be left from her. Let those therefore whom Providence has advanced to honour from mean beginnings carefully watch against that sin which will most easily beset them, pride and haughtiness, which will in them, of all others, be most insufferable and inexcusable; and let them humble themselves with the remembrance of the rock out of which they were hewn.
Historical interpretation
Five Centuries of Reception
3 surviving comments on this verse. Each one is dated, so this reads as a timeline rather than a list.
Select a marker to jump to its quote. Markers stagger vertically where authors wrote within a few decades of each other.
"There be three things which I cannot understand, and the fourth I know not: the tracks of an eagle flying," i.e., Christ's ascension; "and the ways of a serpent upon a rock," i.e., that the devil did not find a trace of sin in the body of Christ; "and the ways of a ship crossing the sea," i.e., the ways of the Church, which is in this life as in a sea, and which is directed by her hope in Christ through the cross; "and the ways of a man in youth," -the ways of Him, namely, who is born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin. For behold, says the Scripture, a man whose name is the Rising.
An eagle and a ship and a serpent are not of one family and nature but of a distinguishable and different substance, and yet they are three. On the testimony of Scripture, therefore, [the Arians] learn that their arguments are against themselves.Therefore, in saying that the substance of the Father and of the Son is diverse and their Godhead distinguishable, [the Arians] themselves assert there are two gods. But we, when we confess the Father and the Son, in declaring them still to be of one Godhead, say that there are not two gods but one God. And this we establish by the Word of the Lord.
Three things are difficult for me, etc. As far as history is concerned, it is as it is written; but because he speaks through parables, the way of an eagle in the sky is difficult to find: that is, the subtlety of the enemy, which flies around the hearts of heavenly men, is discovered with great labor. Similarly, the way of a serpent on the ground, that is, the cunning of the poisonous enemy, never ceasing to lay snares for those he sees founded on the rock of faith. Likewise, the way of a ship in the midst of the sea, that is, the way of iniquity, which runs through the bitter waves of this world, driven by the blasts of unclean spirits, with such subtlety that its path can hardly or not at all be discovered. For that the eagle signifies the malicious enemy, the prophet testifies, who says: Our persecutors were swifter than the eagles of the sky (Lamentations IV), that is, men who persecuted us were so cruel that they seemed to be more savage than the demons themselves. That the serpent often signifies the devil is proven both in the transgression of the first man and when a wise man said, Flee from sin as from the face of a serpent (Ecclesiasticus XXI). The ship, which signifies lightness, indicates those who are tossed about by every wind of doctrine, as the prophet demonstrates when he says, "And the Chaldeans in their ships glorifying" (Isa. XLIII); that is, the unclean spirits exalting themselves from the fragility and instability of the human mind, and rejoicing as victors over its ruin. Just as those things are so pure that they cannot be found, so is it difficult to comprehend how a youth who has deserted the way of truth can deviate with a wandering mind into countless thoughts every hour. Such is also the way of an adulterous woman, who eats and wipes her mouth and says, "I have done no wickedness." The adulterous mind is always unstable and wandering like those mentioned above. Whoever can conceal the vile act that they committed denies having done any crime.
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This verse
Agur humbly confesses that some things are too wonderful for him to understand, and with the pattern “three, yea, four” he leads into the list that follows.
“There be three things which are too wonderful for me,”
pâlâʼ, to be great or wonderful: things beyond what Agur can grasp. He speaks for himself, and his humility is where the saying starts.
“yea, four which I know not:”
The step from three to four (shâlôwsh, ʼarbaʻ) draws attention to the list in verse 19 and to its last item. yâdaʻ, to know by seeing, fits a man who has watched these things and still cannot explain them.
Passage studyProverbs 30:18–20
Four Ways Too Wonderful to Trace
Summary
Agur son of Jakeh confesses that some things are too wonderful for him, and he names four ways that are plain to see while they happen and impossible to trace afterward: an eagle in the air, a serpent on a rock, a ship in the midst of the sea, and a man with a young woman. Then he sets beside them the way of an adulterous woman, who sins as easily as she eats a meal, wipes her mouth, and says, “I have done no wickedness.” These three verses teach the humility of true wisdom before God’s world, and they show how a heart that hides its sin from others comes to hide it from itself, before a God who sees everything.
Why Agur calls these things too wonderful
These verses belong to “the words of Agur the son of Jakeh” (Proverbs 30:1), a collection that stands apart from the proverbs of Solomon and is known for its numbered sayings and riddles. Scripture tells us little about Agur beyond his father’s name, yet God has placed his sayings in the book beside those of Solomon and king Lemuel, and they give us a view of wisdom all their own.
“There be three things which are too wonderful for me.” The verb behind “too wonderful”, pâlâʼ, means to be great, difficult or wonderful, or to make something so. It describes what is extraordinary and beyond a person’s ordinary understanding. In the second line, “yea, four which I know not”, the verb yâdaʻ is the common word for knowing, and its root sense is to find something out by seeing it. That fits what follows, because Agur has watched every one of these things. He can see the eagle and the ship as well as anyone, and still he cannot account for their ways.
In the wisdom of Scripture, a confession like this is the mark of a wise man. Agur knows enough of God’s world to know where his understanding ends, and his admission comes from reverence for the Creator whose design it is. The LORD says that his thoughts and ways are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8–9). Zophar tells Job how far God lies beyond our searching (Job 11:7–9), and the LORD himself answers Job out of the whirlwind with questions about the making of the world (Job 38:1–7). Paul ends his long argument in Romans by praising the depth of God’s wisdom and knowledge and his unsearchable judgments (Romans 11:33–36), and Scripture says that the secret things belong to the LORD our God (Deuteronomy 29:29). Agur stands with them. Where his understanding stops, he rests in the One who understands all things.
How “three things, yea, four” works
The numbers here are simply numbers: shâlôwsh is three and ʼarbaʻ is four. Together they make a pattern that Hebrew wisdom uses to build toward a list, where the second, higher number gives weight to the last item and makes the saying easy to remember. The list of things the LORD hates in Proverbs 6:16–19 is built the same way, and so are the prophet’s oracles against the nations that begin with the transgressions of Damascus (Amos 1:3–2:16). Here the pattern leads the ear to the fourth way in the next verse, the way of a man with a maid, as the most wonderful of all.
Four ways that vanish once they are past
The word Agur repeats, derek, comes from a root meaning to tread. It is a road or path, and by extension a course of life or a manner of doing something. In verse 19 it is the path each thing takes as it moves, and what the four share is that the path is hidden once the moving is over.
An eagle rises into the open sky and is lost to sight, and its course through the air is impossible to follow or mark. A serpent glides silently over bare rock, and the hard stone keeps its path hidden as surely as the sky hides the eagle’s. A ship in the midst of the sea throws up a wake, but the water closes again behind it, and the wide sea soon swallows every sign of where it went.
Each of these is plain to see while it is happening. Afterward the way itself is gone, and these are the things Agur calls too wonderful for him. They were everyday sights in Israel, which is why the saying speaks to everyone who hears it.
What is “the way of a man with a maid”?
It is the way a man and a young woman are drawn together in courtship and love, a bond that usually led to marriage and the building of a family. The man is a geber, a word that properly means a valiant man and is often simply a man or a person, and in poetry it often speaks of a human being in his frailty and mortality. The maid is an ‘almâh, a young woman of an age to marry, usually still unmarried.
Like the other three, this way is real and plain to see, while its inner life stays hidden from anyone outside it. Two people come to love each other, and how their hearts were joined is hard for anyone, even the two of them, to explain. Agur places it last and highest, after the sky, the rock and the sea, so the bond between a man and a woman stands among the wonders of God’s created order, as deep as anything in nature. It is a good gift of God, private and sacred.
The adulterous woman who wipes her mouth
“Such is the way of an adulterous woman.” The word “such” ties her to the four ways before her. Her deed, like the eagle’s flight or the ship’s passage, is gone once it is done, and she makes sure that it stays hidden. The setting makes the contrast sharp. Agur has just named the way of a man with a maid as a wonder of God’s making, and now he names a way that corrupts that same gift, and its hiddenness is the most troubling of all.
The same word derek is used here for her settled course of life, a pattern of conduct that has grown out of her character. “She eateth” uses ʼâkal, the ordinary verb to eat, which can also mean to devour or consume. Agur likens her adultery to a meal, which she takes as easily as food, with as little struggle as she would feel at her table. She wipes her mouth, removing every sign of what she has done, and then she says, “I have done no wickedness.” The word for wickedness, ʼâven, covers nothingness, trouble and vanity, and also iniquity and wickedness. She claims that what she did was innocent, and in saying so she has redefined good and evil for herself.
Under the Law adultery was a grave sin, and its penalty was death (Deuteronomy 22:22). It broke the vows of marriage, damaged the family and defiled the community. Proverbs warns again and again against the strange woman and the end she leads to (Proverbs 2:16–19, Proverbs 5:3–6, Proverbs 7:6–27), and verse 20 shows her from the inside, at ease and sure of her own innocence. In the terms of the whole book, her way is folly at its height, set against the wisdom that loves integrity and truth.
How a hardened heart comes to deny its sin
The woman sins, hides what she has done, and then denies it, and by the end she has deceived herself as well as others. Jeremiah says that the heart is deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9), and Paul speaks of people whose consciences are seared as with a hot iron (1 Timothy 4:2). This woman shows where that road ends. A conscience treated this way loses the power to recognise sin, and a person who calls her sin innocent has shut the door to repentance.
The lesson reaches past adultery to any sin we commit and then explain away, make small or deny. She can wipe her mouth before other people, and every hidden deed still lies open to God. The psalmist says that God sets our secret sins in the light of his countenance (Psalm 90:8), and Hebrews says that every creature lies open to the eyes of the One to whom we must give account (Hebrews 4:13).
“The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), and that is why her denial is so dangerous. The way God gives runs the other way from hers. The psalmist acknowledges his sin to God and is forgiven (Psalm 32:5), and John promises that God is faithful and just to forgive and cleanse those who confess their sins (1 John 1:9).
Christ, the wisdom of God and the cleansing of sin
What lay beyond Agur’s understanding is made known in Jesus Christ. In him “are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:2–3), and he is the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24). John writes, “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him” (John 1:18), and Hebrews calls the Son “the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person” (Hebrews 1:3). Paul speaks of God’s plan of salvation as a mystery kept hidden through the ages and now made known (Romans 16:25–26). Agur spoke of ways he could not trace, and Jesus says of himself that he is the way (John 14:6).
The way of a man with a maid also points beyond itself. Paul calls the union of husband and wife a great mystery and says that he speaks of Christ and the church (Ephesians 5:32), so the wonder Agur saw in human love is a picture of the closer union of Christ with his people.
Christ answers the woman of verse 20 as well. He is the light that has come into the world and shows hidden deeds for what they are (John 3:19–21). She wipes her mouth to look clean, and he makes sinners truly clean through confession and his sacrifice on the cross. God promises a new heart and a new spirit, a heart of flesh in place of a heart of stone (Ezekiel 36:26). In Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins (Ephesians 1:7), and Paul says that those who are in Christ Jesus are free from condemnation and walk by the Spirit (Romans 8:1–4).
Humble wonder and honest confession
These verses set two people before God. Agur stands in wonder, confessing what is beyond him, and the God he trusts is wise beyond all searching, the maker of the eagle’s flight and of the love between a man and a woman. The adulterous woman stands in denial, and the same God sees everything she has hidden. The God who sees every secret sin is also the God who forgives the sin that is confessed. A tender conscience, quick to see sin and to bring it to him, is his gift through Christ, and with it comes the freedom to marvel at his world with nothing left to hide.
Proverbs 30:18 This verse
“There be three things which are too wonderful for me,”
pâlâʼ, to be great or wonderful: things beyond what Agur can grasp. He speaks for himself, and his humility is where the saying starts.
“yea, four which I know not:”
The step from three to four (shâlôwsh, ʼarbaʻ) draws attention to the list in verse 19 and to its last item. yâdaʻ, to know by seeing, fits a man who has watched these things and still cannot explain them.
Proverbs 30:19
“The way of an eagle in the air;”
derek is a trodden path. The eagle’s flight is high and free, and impossible to follow once it is gone.
“the way of a serpent upon a rock;”
A silent glide over hard stone that keeps the serpent’s path hidden.
“the way of a ship in the midst of the sea;”
The wake fades quickly in the open sea.
“and the way of a man with a maid.”
The human wonder comes last and highest: a geber and an ‘almâh, courtship and love whose inner workings are hidden from outsiders. Like the wonders the LORD shows Job in Job 38, these ways humble the one who watches them.
Proverbs 30:20
“Such is the way of an adulterous woman;”
“Such” ties her way to the hidden ways of verse 19, and derek here is her settled course of life, grown out of her character.
“she eateth, and wipeth her mouth,”
ʼâkal, to eat: sin taken as lightly as a meal, then every sign of it wiped away.
“and saith, I have done no wickedness.”
ʼâven is iniquity or wickedness, and also trouble and vanity. Her claim shows a conscience hardened past seeing its own sin, though God sees it all.
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