Proverbs 30:7–9
"Give me neither poverty nor riches"
Agur's prayer, the only prayer in Proverbs: "Two things have I required of thee… remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: lest I be full, and deny thee… or lest I be poor, and steal." The witnesses agree. The prayer corrects any reading of Proverbs as a promise of wealth.
Stable text: no manuscript differences in meaning
The family tree
Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.
✓ contains this verse · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives
- Same line, through lost copies
- Translation
Every witness, in order
Collections from the monarchy to the Persian period (debated)
The proverb as first composed
No original survives. The oldest Hebrew copies of Proverbs are two small Qumran fragments (4Q102, 4Q103, 1st century BC – 1st century AD, reported).
Jerome c. AD 398, from Hebrew; edition 1592
Latin Vulgate (Clementine)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).
Duo rogavi te: ne deneges mihi antequam moriar: vanitatem et verba mendacia longe fac a me; mendicitatem et divitias ne dederis mihi: tribue tantum victui meo necessaria, ne forte satiatus illiciar ad negandum, et dicam: Quis est Dominus? aut egestate compulsus, furer, et perjurem nomen Dei mei.
Latin position: Proverbs 30:7–9. Jerome translated Proverbs from Hebrew (c. AD 398).
AD 1008
Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.
שְׁ֭תַּיִם שָׁאַ֣לְתִּי מֵאִתָּ֑ךְ אַל־תִּמְנַ֥ע מִ֝מֶּ֗נִּי בְּטֶ֣רֶם אָמֽוּת׃ שָׁ֤וְא ׀ וּֽדְבַר־כָּזָ֡ב הַרְחֵ֬ק מִמֶּ֗נִּי רֵ֣אשׁ וָ֭עֹשֶׁר אַל־תִּֽתֶּן־לִ֑י הַ֝טְרִיפֵ֗נִי לֶ֣חֶם חֻקִּֽי׃ פֶּ֥ן אֶשְׂבַּ֨ע ׀ וְכִחַשְׁתִּי֮ וְאָמַ֗רְתִּי מִ֥י יְה֫וָ֥ה וּפֶֽן־אִוָּרֵ֥שׁ וְגָנַ֑בְתִּי וְ֝תָפַ֗שְׂתִּי שֵׁ֣ם אֱלֹהָֽי׃
Two things I ask of you… emptiness and lying words keep far from me; poverty and riches do not give me; feed me my allotted bread
Hebrew position: Proverbs 30:7–9.
1611
King James Bible
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).
Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die: Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.
Old Greek c. 2nd century BC; French 1872
Greek Proverbs (library: Giguet's French)
How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.
Seigneur, je vous demande deux choses: Ne me retirez pas votre grâce avant que je meure; Éloignez de moi les paroles vaines et le mensonge: ne me donnez ni la richesse ni la pauvreté; mais accordez-moi ce qui m’est nécessaire et suffisant; De peur que, rassasié, je ne devienne trompeur, et ne dise: Qui me voit? ou que, poussé par le besoin, je ne dérobe, et que je ne parjure le nom du Seigneur.
Greek (digital file) position: Proverbs 30:7–9. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text (D check). In chapters 24–31 the Greek follows a different order of collections, which the digital file squeezes into Hebrew slots; the matching line was found by content. No Göttingen critical edition of Greek Proverbs is published; a C check needs Rahlfs–Hanhart and specialist studies.
What changed, and why
Lechem chuqqi, "my allotted bread," is the daily ration (compare Exodus 16:16–18, manna for each day; Matthew 6:11, "our daily bread"). Both wealth and poverty are named as spiritual dangers: wealth breeds self-sufficiency ("Who is the LORD?" compare Deuteronomy 8:12–14), poverty tempts to theft and to profaning God's name.
Paul's "I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content" (Philippians 4:11–12) and 1 Timothy 6:6–10 express a similar ideal. See the investigation Wisdom Is Not a Guarantee of Wealth.
What the evidence shows
- The library's witnesses agree on 30:7–9.
- Proverbs 30:8 is the only prayer in the book.
Sources
Related lessons
- Proverbs 30: The Words of Agur →Proverbs 30 belongs to "Agur the son of Jakeh," otherwise unknown. He begins in humility ("Surely I am more brutish than any man," v. 2) and asks God's questions: "Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended?… what is his name, and what is his son's name, if thou canst tell?" (v. 4). He affirms "Every word of God is pure" (v. 5) and prays for two things: freedom from falsehood, and "neither poverty nor riches" (vv. 7–9). Then come numbered sayings: the leech's daughters, four things never satisfied, four things too wonderful (the way of an eagle, a serpent, a ship, a man with a young woman), four things the earth cannot bear, four small but wise creatures (ants, rock badgers, locusts, lizards), and four stately walkers (vv. 15–31).