Proverbs 30:8

Proverbs 30:8, in plain English

Agur's first request: keep him far from lies and deception. His second request: don't give him either poverty or wealth, but give him just enough—his daily bread. He wants truth and contentment.

Why it's here

These aren't random requests. Agur is saying, 'Give me integrity and simplicity.' He's watching people around him destroyed by both extremes—the wealthy who become arrogant, the poor who despair. He wants the middle path where he can stay sane, stay honest, and stay dependent on God. This would have resonated with people in his audience who felt trapped by either need or excess.

Who's speaking

Agur, stating his specific petitions

Where it sits in the story

This connects to Jesus's prayer, 'Give us this day our daily bread,' and to Paul's teaching that 'godliness with contentment is great gain.' Agur understands something spiritual: too much or too little can pull us away from God.

The scholarly reading

Agur requests two specific things: distance from falsehood and deceit, and a moderate material provision—neither poverty nor riches.

Language and setting

The first request addresses moral integrity: šāqer (falsehood) and dəbārim keʿāzābîm (deceptive words) are twin corruptions of truth-telling that undermine wisdom's social function. The second request navigates the Aristotelian mean between extremes—neither poverty (rēš) nor riches (ʿōšer) but rather 'the bread of my portion' (leḥem ḥuqqî), the sustenance assigned to him by divine providence. This represents what scholars identify as 'economic wisdom'—not the ascetic rejection of material goods but their prudent stewardship. The Hebrew construct leḥem ḥuqqî carries connotations of measured allocation, what Greek philosophers would recognize as mesos (the mean). The juxtaposition of moral and material petitions reflects wisdom's holistic anthropology: right living requires both intellectual integrity and stable material circumstances.

Voice

Agur, articulating his two primary petitions with remarkable specificity.

Significance

This balanced request—neither ascetic rejection nor acquisitive craving—shapes the wisdom tradition's economic ethics and provides ballast against both capitalist excess and monastic withdrawal, establishing a biblical middle path that resurfaces in Protestant work ethic and Catholic social teaching.

6Do not add to His words, lest He rebuke you and prove you a liar.

7Two things I ask of You— do not refuse me before I die:

8Keep falsehood and deceitful words far from me. Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the bread that is my portion.

9Otherwise, I may have too much and deny You, saying, ‘Who is the LORD?’ Or I may become poor and steal, profaning the name of my God.

10Do not slander a servant to his master, or he will curse you, and you will bear the guilt.

Read all of Proverbs 30 — A different voice — Agur, who says: I am too stupid to be a man. Then he writes some of the most brilliant observations in the entire book.