Three Things . . . Four Things

Proverbs 30:21–28

ca. 1200–332 BCE

About This Entry

This is one of the sayings attributed to the foreign sage Agur from Massa in the book of Proverbs.

²¹The earth shudders at three things,

At four which it cannot bear:

²²A slave who becomes king;

A scoundrel sated with food;

²³A loathsome woman who gets married;

A slave-girl who supplants her mistress.

²⁴Four are among the tiniest on earth,

Yet they are the wisest of the wise:

²⁵Ants are a folk without power,

Yet they prepare food for themselves in summer;

²⁶The badger is a folk without strength,

Yet it makes its home in the rock;

²⁷The locusts have no king,

Yet they all march forth in formation;

²⁸You can catch the lizard^a in your hand,

Yet it is found in royal palaces.

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Or “spider.”

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 1.