Read the passage and its setting
Proverbs 30:7–9, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Proverbs 30:7–9
A prayer for truth and sufficient provision
The Main Point
uses two-part parallelism to place “Two things have I required of thee” beside “deny me them not before I die”; by 30:9, it contributes the claim, image, or instruction “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…”. Together the unit concentrates on wealth, poverty, provision, and economic power, truthful testimony, honest measures, and integrity, reverent accountability before the LORD within “Words of Agur and numbered observations.”
What Is Happening Here?
Proverbs 30:7–9 opens with “Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die” and closes with “Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and….” Those endpoints show the unit's movement from opening claim to reviewed close.
Context That Shapes This Passage
How does this passage relate?
Proverbs 30:7–9In “A prayer for truth and sufficient provision,” the complete unit develops this passage-specific claim: uses two-part parallelism to place “Two things have I required of thee” beside “deny me them not before I die”; by 30:9, it contributes the claim, image, or instruction “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…”. Together the unit concentrates on wealth, poverty, provision, and economic power, truthful testimony, honest measures, and integrity, reverent accountability before the LORD within “Words of Agur and numbered observations.”
Why this relationship fits: The reviewed reasoning path begins, “Opening (30:7): the unit uses two-part parallelism to place “Two things have I required of thee” beside “deny me them not before I die”.” and concludes, “Close (30:9): the unit contributes the claim, image, or instruction “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…”, creating the next supported pause.”
How does this passage relate?
Proverbs 30:7–9Proverbs 30:7–9 is the reviewed unit “A prayer for truth and sufficient provision.” Its parallel lines, repeated address, comparison, or local cluster controls how each verse contributes without borrowing a neighboring unit's subject.
Why this relationship fits: The unit opens “Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die” and closes “Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and….”
What earlier material does it rely on?
Proverbs 30:1–6Proverbs 30:7–9 continues the earlier movement “Agur confesses knowledge's limits” by carrying “A prayer for truth and sufficient provision.”
Why this relationship fits: The earlier unit ends “Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar,” and this unit opens “Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die.”
What following material clarifies it?
Proverbs 30:10–14Proverbs 30:10–14 continues this unit's “A prayer for truth and sufficient provision” by carrying “Humility, teachability, pride, and reputation — Accuse not a servant unto his master, lest he curse thee,….”
Why this relationship fits: This unit ends “Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor,…,” and the following unit opens “Accuse not a servant unto his master, lest he curse thee, and thou be found….”
Where does this sit in the whole book?
Proverbs as a wholeProverbs 30:7–9 belongs to “Words of Agur and numbered observations.” Agur confesses human limits, prays for truthful sufficiency, condemns arrogant appetite, and studies creatures, social inversions, and escalating conflict through compact numerical sayings. This unit contributes wealth, poverty, provision, and economic power, truthful testimony, honest measures, and integrity, reverent accountability before the LORD through its own received wording and form.
Why this relationship fits: The received sequence places Proverbs 30:7–9 inside Proverbs 30:1–30:33; this unit opens “Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die” and closes “Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and….” The unit's reviewed main point is: uses two-part parallelism to place “Two things have I required of thee” beside “deny me them not before I die”; by 30:9, it contributes the claim, image, or instruction “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…”. Together the unit concentrates on wealth, poverty, provision, and economic power, truthful testimony, honest measures, and integrity, reverent accountability before the LORD within “Words of Agur and numbered observations.”
Follow the Wisdom Collection
See why this section appears here and how the author's wisdom movement leads to its meaning.
Why Is This Passage Here?
Proverbs 30:7–9 continues “Agur confesses knowledge's limits” by carrying “A prayer for truth and sufficient provision” within the same sustained discourse, admonition, numbered form, or poem.
Follow the Saying or Discourse
Opening (30:7): the unit uses two-part parallelism to place “Two things have I required of thee” beside “deny me them not before I die”.
Development (30:7–9): adjacent lines test wealth, poverty, provision, and economic power, truthful testimony, honest measures, and integrity, reverent accountability before the LORD through parallelism, contrast, motive, image, or consequence.
Close (30:9): the unit contributes the claim, image, or instruction “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…”, creating the next supported pause.
Why This Interpretation Fits
Exact verse-level work
Every line in Proverbs 30:7–9 retains its own Verse Lens role and does not borrow a neighboring verse's claim.
Collection context
The superscription and placement identify this unit inside “Words of Agur and numbered observations”: Agur confesses human limits, prays for truthful sufficiency, condemns arrogant appetite, and studies creatures, social inversions, and escalating conflict through compact numerical sayings.
Proverbial proportion
The unit's instruction and observations concern wealth, poverty, provision, and economic power, truthful testimony, honest measures, and integrity, reverent accountability before the LORD; they describe moral direction without explaining every exceptional outcome.
Understand the Meaning and Its Boundaries
Clarify the words that matter and keep the conclusion no broader than the passage allows.
What the Passage Is Not Saying
Reading Proverbs 30:7–9 as edited wisdom rather than a detached formula rules out these uses:
The saying does not promise prosperity, blame sufferers or poor people, excuse predatory lending, or make wealth proof of divine approval.
The saying does not make accusation proof, excuse intrusive surveillance, or permit truth language to become humiliation or propaganda.
The saying does not transfer divine authority to a parent, pastor, ruler, spouse, nation, or political movement, and it does not authorize fear-based coercion.
The unit does not turn a normal wisdom pattern into a universal promise, a complete causal explanation of suffering, or a mandate broader than Proverbs 30:7–9.
Context check: Within words of agur and numbered observations, uses two-part parallelism to place “Two things have I required of thee” beside “deny me them not before I die”; by 30:9, it contributes the claim, image, or instruction “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…”. Together the unit concentrates on wealth, poverty, provision, and economic power, truthful testimony, honest measures, and integrity, reverent accountability before the LORD within “Words of Agur and numbered observations.” The sayings function as context-shaped instruction and observation: general patterns are not automatic guarantees, commands stay bounded by their ancient role, and an individual line must not erase the edited collection around it.
What Remains True Today
Proverbs treats resources as morally consequential but never reduces wealth to virtue or poverty to personal failure. Reliable testimony, honest measurement, and integrity protect relationships and public life from manipulation. Wisdom begins with reverent accountability to the LORD and refuses to make human insight self-sufficient. These truths remain proportionate only when the proverb's literary form, affected people, exceptions, and wider fear-of-the-LORD frame remain visible.
Respond and Remember
Let the meaning shape life carefully, then practice explaining the section in context.
How This Should Shape Us
Why these applications follow
Proverbs 30:7–9 applies wealth, poverty, provision, and economic power, truthful testimony, honest measures, and integrity, reverent accountability before the LORD through the people, action, comparison, and consequence named in its complete movement.
Within words of agur and numbered observations, uses two-part parallelism to place “Two things have I required of thee” beside “deny me them not before I die”; by 30:9, it contributes the claim, image, or instruction “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…”. Together the unit concentrates on wealth, poverty, provision, and economic power, truthful testimony, honest measures, and integrity, reverent accountability before the LORD within “Words of Agur and numbered observations.” The sayings function as context-shaped instruction and observation: general patterns are not automatic guarantees, commands stay bounded by their ancient role, and an individual line must not erase the edited collection around it.
Proverbs treats resources as morally consequential but never reduces wealth to virtue or poverty to personal failure. Reliable testimony, honest measurement, and integrity protect relationships and public life from manipulation. Wisdom begins with reverent accountability to the LORD and refuses to make human insight self-sufficient. These truths remain proportionate only when the proverb's literary form, affected people, exceptions, and wider fear-of-the-LORD frame remain visible.
How does the application follow proportionately?
Examine how money was obtained, who bears the cost, whether basic needs are met, and how resources can serve justice and durable care. Keep accurate records, disclose conflicts, verify claims, and correct material errors without favoritism. Bring the decision under truthful worship, moral accountability, and correction rather than using religious language to shield preference or power. In 30:7–9, let the concrete wording “Two things have I required of thee; deny me them…” keep that response tied to the people, action, comparison, or consequence actually named.
A Concrete Example
Build a budget around truthful income and sufficient needs, resist both deceptive gain and status consumption, and seek help when scarcity threatens basic safety.
Teach It Back
Explain Proverbs 30:7–9 in your own words. Identify its form and collection, trace one line from role through contextual meaning and enduring truth to application, name one uncertainty, and reject one misuse explicitly.
Your explanation stays in this browser. It is not sent or saved.
Go Deeper
The main explanation above stands on its own. Open these optional sections for fuller language, history, disagreements, and source locations.
Read it sentence by sentenceEach line inside the larger movement
Exact verse-level work
Every line in Proverbs 30:7–9 retains its own Verse Lens role and does not borrow a neighboring verse's claim.
Collection context
The superscription and placement identify this unit inside “Words of Agur and numbered observations”: Agur confesses human limits, prays for truthful sufficiency, condemns arrogant appetite, and studies creatures, social inversions, and escalating conflict through compact numerical sayings.
Proverbial proportion
The unit's instruction and observations concern wealth, poverty, provision, and economic power, truthful testimony, honest measures, and integrity, reverent accountability before the LORD; they describe moral direction without explaining every exceptional outcome.
Original-language wording and grammarTechnical detail appears only where it helps
No individual Hebrew or KJV expression in Proverbs 30:7–9 needs a separate lexical card beyond the complete saying or discourse explanation.
What the first readers would have understoodRelevant history and culture
Edited wisdom and social setting
This unit belongs to words of agur and numbered observations. Aitken's printed pages 405-422 and the book-specific sources identify family, community, agricultural, commercial, scribal, court, and royal settings as relevant possibilities without proving one setting for every saying.
How certain? probableWhy translations sometimes differMaterial translation choices
No older-English term in this unit requires a separate reader note after reading the complete KJV line in context.
Earlier Scripture and inherited backgroundSupported quotations, allusions, and inherited ideas
Israelite wisdom setting
The unit's first horizon is Israel's wisdom collection under fear of the LORD. Torah-shaped justice, creation, household teaching, royal responsibility, and community life may inform the language, but no cross-reference overrides this unit's own parallelism and collection role.
How certain? probableHow this connects with the rest of ScriptureThe passage's own meaning remains primary
Responsible canonical location
Within the received book, Agur confesses human limits, prays for truthful sufficiency, condemns arrogant appetite, and studies creatures, social inversions, and escalating conflict through compact numerical sayings. This local unit is read through that movement before broader canonical comparison.
How certain? probableTextual variantsManuscript differences only when they affect meaning
Material textual or translation question
The complete NET notes attached to Proverbs 30:7–9 were inspected alongside MorphHB. No unreviewed alternative replaces the pinned KJV; any verse whose wording materially affects interpretation carries an expanded Lens and visible uncertainty rather than a silent emendation.
How certain? probableWhere careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful readers disagree?
Best judgment: The unit's speaker, literary form, imagery, or arrangement carries named uncertainty. The judgment follows the received sequence without inventing a biography or forcing every image into one allegory.
How certain? probableTheology that emerges from this passageConclusions drawn after reading the complete section
Theological contribution
The unit places practical wisdom under a moral order answerable to the LORD: Proverbs treats resources as morally consequential but never reduces wealth to virtue or poverty to personal failure. Reliable testimony, honest measurement, and integrity protect relationships and public life from manipulation. Wisdom begins with reverent accountability to the LORD and refuses to make human insight self-sufficient.
How certain? strongTheological contribution
Within Words of Agur and numbered observations, uses two-part parallelism to place “Two things have I required of thee” beside “deny me them not before I die”; by 30:9, it contributes the claim, image, or instruction “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…”. Together the unit concentrates on wealth, poverty, provision, and economic power, truthful testimony, honest measures, and integrity, reverent accountability before the LORD within “Words of Agur and numbered observations.”
How certain? strongCommon ways this passage gets misusedFair explanation, context check, and stronger reading
The saying does not promise prosperity, blame sufferers or poor people, excuse predatory lending, or make wealth proof of divine approval.
A compact saying is easy to detach and universalize.
Within words of agur and numbered observations, uses two-part parallelism to place “Two things have I required of thee” beside “deny me them not before I die”; by 30:9, it contributes the claim, image, or instruction “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…”. Together the unit concentrates on wealth, poverty, provision, and economic power, truthful testimony, honest measures, and integrity, reverent accountability before the LORD within “Words of Agur and numbered observations.” The sayings function as context-shaped instruction and observation: general patterns are not automatic guarantees, commands stay bounded by their ancient role, and an individual line must not erase the edited collection around it.
Proverbs treats resources as morally consequential but never reduces wealth to virtue or poverty to personal failure. Reliable testimony, honest measurement, and integrity protect relationships and public life from manipulation. Wisdom begins with reverent accountability to the LORD and refuses to make human insight self-sufficient. These truths remain proportionate only when the proverb's literary form, affected people, exceptions, and wider fear-of-the-LORD frame remain visible.
The context-supported contribution remains: uses two-part parallelism to place “Two things have I required of thee” beside “deny me them not before I die”; by 30:9, it contributes the claim, image, or instruction “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…”. Together the unit concentrates on wealth, poverty, provision, and economic power, truthful testimony, honest measures, and integrity, reverent accountability before the LORD within “Words of Agur and numbered observations.”
The saying does not make accusation proof, excuse intrusive surveillance, or permit truth language to become humiliation or propaganda.
An ancient authority, household, wealth, gender, or consequence image can be imported into modern power without following the interpretation chain.
Within words of agur and numbered observations, uses two-part parallelism to place “Two things have I required of thee” beside “deny me them not before I die”; by 30:9, it contributes the claim, image, or instruction “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…”. Together the unit concentrates on wealth, poverty, provision, and economic power, truthful testimony, honest measures, and integrity, reverent accountability before the LORD within “Words of Agur and numbered observations.” The sayings function as context-shaped instruction and observation: general patterns are not automatic guarantees, commands stay bounded by their ancient role, and an individual line must not erase the edited collection around it.
Proverbs treats resources as morally consequential but never reduces wealth to virtue or poverty to personal failure. Reliable testimony, honest measurement, and integrity protect relationships and public life from manipulation. Wisdom begins with reverent accountability to the LORD and refuses to make human insight self-sufficient. These truths remain proportionate only when the proverb's literary form, affected people, exceptions, and wider fear-of-the-LORD frame remain visible.
The context-supported contribution remains: uses two-part parallelism to place “Two things have I required of thee” beside “deny me them not before I die”; by 30:9, it contributes the claim, image, or instruction “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…”. Together the unit concentrates on wealth, poverty, provision, and economic power, truthful testimony, honest measures, and integrity, reverent accountability before the LORD within “Words of Agur and numbered observations.”
The saying does not transfer divine authority to a parent, pastor, ruler, spouse, nation, or political movement, and it does not authorize fear-based coercion.
An ancient authority, household, wealth, gender, or consequence image can be imported into modern power without following the interpretation chain.
Within words of agur and numbered observations, uses two-part parallelism to place “Two things have I required of thee” beside “deny me them not before I die”; by 30:9, it contributes the claim, image, or instruction “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…”. Together the unit concentrates on wealth, poverty, provision, and economic power, truthful testimony, honest measures, and integrity, reverent accountability before the LORD within “Words of Agur and numbered observations.” The sayings function as context-shaped instruction and observation: general patterns are not automatic guarantees, commands stay bounded by their ancient role, and an individual line must not erase the edited collection around it.
Proverbs treats resources as morally consequential but never reduces wealth to virtue or poverty to personal failure. Reliable testimony, honest measurement, and integrity protect relationships and public life from manipulation. Wisdom begins with reverent accountability to the LORD and refuses to make human insight self-sufficient. These truths remain proportionate only when the proverb's literary form, affected people, exceptions, and wider fear-of-the-LORD frame remain visible.
The context-supported contribution remains: uses two-part parallelism to place “Two things have I required of thee” beside “deny me them not before I die”; by 30:9, it contributes the claim, image, or instruction “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…”. Together the unit concentrates on wealth, poverty, provision, and economic power, truthful testimony, honest measures, and integrity, reverent accountability before the LORD within “Words of Agur and numbered observations.”
The unit does not turn a normal wisdom pattern into a universal promise, a complete causal explanation of suffering, or a mandate broader than Proverbs 30:7–9.
An ancient authority, household, wealth, gender, or consequence image can be imported into modern power without following the interpretation chain.
Within words of agur and numbered observations, uses two-part parallelism to place “Two things have I required of thee” beside “deny me them not before I die”; by 30:9, it contributes the claim, image, or instruction “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…”. Together the unit concentrates on wealth, poverty, provision, and economic power, truthful testimony, honest measures, and integrity, reverent accountability before the LORD within “Words of Agur and numbered observations.” The sayings function as context-shaped instruction and observation: general patterns are not automatic guarantees, commands stay bounded by their ancient role, and an individual line must not erase the edited collection around it.
Proverbs treats resources as morally consequential but never reduces wealth to virtue or poverty to personal failure. Reliable testimony, honest measurement, and integrity protect relationships and public life from manipulation. Wisdom begins with reverent accountability to the LORD and refuses to make human insight self-sufficient. These truths remain proportionate only when the proverb's literary form, affected people, exceptions, and wider fear-of-the-LORD frame remain visible.
The context-supported contribution remains: uses two-part parallelism to place “Two things have I required of thee” beside “deny me them not before I die”; by 30:9, it contributes the claim, image, or instruction “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…”. Together the unit concentrates on wealth, poverty, provision, and economic power, truthful testimony, honest measures, and integrity, reverent accountability before the LORD within “Words of Agur and numbered observations.”
Research trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact displayed KJV words, canonical order, paragraph flags, supplied-word markup, and complete unit coverage.
Proverbs 30:7–9, repository-pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology used only for the exact unit's lexical, grammatical, parallel, superscription, number-saying, and acrostic questions.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Prov.xml, OSIS 30:7-30:9
Supports: Verse-attached textual, lexical, grammatical, syntactic, parallelism, and older-English controls for the exact range.
NET Bible Proverbs PDF, printed pp. 1178-1181, exact tc/tn/sn entries attached to 30:7–9
Supports: Whole-book and collection orientation, local commentary, social-setting proposals, and named interpretation limits.
Aitken, ‘Proverbs,’ Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 405-422, subsection covering 30:7–9 and the Words of Agur and numbered observations outline
Supports: One historical-social account of poverty, wealth, interest, oppression, labor, and differing evaluations within the collection.
Wittenberg, ‘Situational context of statements concerning poverty and wealth,’ Scriptura 21, pp. 1-23, especially the sayings and redactional comparison relevant to Proverbs 30:7–9
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV words, canonical order, paragraph flags, supplied-word markup, and complete unit coverage.
Exact location: Proverbs 30:7–9, repository-pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Proverbs
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology used only for the exact unit's lexical, grammatical, parallel, superscription, number-saying, and acrostic questions.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Prov.xml, OSIS 30:7-30:9
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Proverbs with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-attached textual, lexical, grammatical, syntactic, parallelism, and older-English controls for the exact range.
Exact location: NET Bible Proverbs PDF, printed pp. 1178-1181, exact tc/tn/sn entries attached to 30:7–9
Open source ↗modern critical commentary
Proverbs
K. T. Aitken
Oxford University Press, in The Oxford Bible Commentary, 2001
Supports: Whole-book and collection orientation, local commentary, social-setting proposals, and named interpretation limits.
Exact location: Aitken, ‘Proverbs,’ Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 405-422, subsection covering 30:7–9 and the Words of Agur and numbered observations outline
Open source ↗peer reviewed open access journal article
The situational context of statements concerning poverty and wealth in the Book of Proverbs
G. H. Wittenberg
Scriptura 21, 1987; open archive 2020
Supports: One historical-social account of poverty, wealth, interest, oppression, labor, and differing evaluations within the collection.
Exact location: Wittenberg, ‘Situational context of statements concerning poverty and wealth,’ Scriptura 21, pp. 1-23, especially the sayings and redactional comparison relevant to Proverbs 30:7–9
Open source ↗