Old/New Testament
30 The words of him that gathereth, of the son spewing. The prophecy which a man spake, with whom God was, and which man was comforted by God dwelling with him, and said, (The words of Agur, the son of Jakeh. The prophecy which a man spoke unto Ithiel, yea, unto Ithiel and Ucal,)
2 I am the most fool of men; and the wisdom of men is not with me. (I am the most foolish of men; and I have no common sense.)
3 I learned not wisdom; and I knew not the knowing of holy men.
4 Who ascended into heaven, and came down (again)? Who held together the spirit in his hands? who bound together waters as in a cloth? (Who held together the wind in his hands? who bound up the waters in a cloak?) Who raised (up) all the ends of [the] earth? What is the name of him? and what is the name of his son, if thou knowest?
5 Each word of God is a shield set afire, to all that hope in him. (Each word of God is fired, and he is a shield for all who hope in him.)
6 Add thou not anything to the words of him, and thou be reproved, and be found a liar. (Do not thou add anything to his words, lest thou be rebuked, and be found a liar.)
7 I prayed (of) thee two things; deny not thou them to me, before that I die.
8 Make thou far from me vanity and words of leasing; give thou not to me begging and riches; but give thou only necessaries to my lifelode; (Make thou far from me emptiness and futility, or uselessness, and words of lying, or lies; give thou not to me begging or riches; but give thou only the necessities for my sustenance;)
9 lest peradventure I be full-filled, and be drawn to deny, and say, Who is the Lord? and lest I be compelled by neediness, and steal, and forswear the name of my God. (lest perhaps I be filled full, and be drawn to deny, and then say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be compelled by neediness, and steal, and forswear the name of my God.)
10 Accuse thou not a servant to his lord, lest peradventure he curse thee, and thou fall down.
11 (There is) A generation that curseth his father, and that blesseth not his mother. (There be people who curse their fathers, and do not bless their mothers.)
12 (There is) A generation that seemeth clean to itself, and nevertheless is not washed from his filths. (There be people who seem clean to themselves, yet nevertheless be not washed from their filths.)
13 (There is) A generation whose eyes be high, and the eyelids thereof be raised [up] into high things. (There be people whose eyes be haughty, and whose glances be raised up, or disdainful.)
14 (There is) A generation that hath swords for teeth, and eateth with his cheek teeth; that it eat [the] needy men of [the] earth, and the poor-alls of men. (There be people who have swords for teeth, and eat with their molars; and they eat the needy of the earth, and those who be all-poor, or without anything.)
15 The waterleach hath two daughters, saying, Bring (me), bring (me). Three things be unable to be (ful)filled, and the fourth, that saith never, It sufficeth (and the fourth, that never saith, It sufficeth);
16 hell; and the mouth of the womb; and the earth that is never filled with water; but fire (that) saith never, It sufficeth. (Sheol, or the land of the dead/the grave; and the mouth of the womb; and the land that is never filled with water; and the fire that never saith, It sufficeth.)
17 (Let the) Crows of the strand peck out that eye, that scorneth the father, and that despiseth the child-bearing of his mother; and (let) the young of an eagle eat that eye.
18 Three things be hard to me, and utterly I know not the fourth thing (and the fourth thing I utterly know not);
19 the way of an eagle in (the) heaven(s); the way of a serpent on a stone; the way of a ship in the middle of the sea; and the way of a man in (his) young waxing age.
20 Such is the way of a woman adulteress, which eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I wrought not evil. (Such is the way of an adulterous woman, who eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and then saith, I have done nothing wrong.)
21 The earth is moved by three things, and by the fourth thing, which it may not sustain;
22 by a servant, when he reigneth; by a fool, when he is filled with meat (by a fool, when he is filled full with food);
23 by an hateful woman, when she is taken in matrimony; and by an handmaid, when she is heir of her lady (and by a servantess, when she is her lady’s heir).
24 Four [things] be the least things of [the] earth, and those be wiser than wise men;
25 ants, a feeble people, that make ready meat in harvest to themselves; (ants, a weak, or a lowly, people, that store-up food for themselves at harvest time;)
26 a hare, a people unmighty, that setteth his bed in a stone; (rock badgers, also an unmighty people, who make their beds among the rocks;)
27 a locust, (that) hath no king, and (yet) all goeth out by companies;
28 a lizard, enforceth with hands, and dwelleth in the houses of kings. (and a lizard, that endeavoureth with his hands, and liveth in palaces.)
29 Three things there be, that go well (And there be three things, that go well), and the fourth thing, that goeth richly, or wellsomely.
30 A lion, strongest of beasts, shall not dread, at the meeting of any man; (A lion, the strongest of beasts, that shall not fear the meeting of any man;)
31 a cock, girded [up] the loins; and a ram, (and a king,) and none there is that shall against-stand him. (a strutting rooster; and a ram; and a king for whom there is no one who shall stand up against him.)
32 He that appeareth a fool, after that he is raised [up] on high; for if he had understood, he had set (his) hand on his mouth. (Now, if thou hath been a fool, and hath raised up thyself on high, and hath imagined evil; then set thy hand upon thy mouth, and be silent.)
33 Forsooth he that thrusteth strongly teats, to draw out milk, thrusteth out butter; and he that smiteth greatly, draweth out blood; and he that stirreth ires, bringeth forth discords. (For he who strongly thrusteth teats to draw out milk, thrusteth out butter; and he who greatly striketh, draweth out blood; and he who stirreth up anger, bringeth forth discords.)
31 The words of Lemuel, the king; the vision by which his mother taught him.
2 What, my darling? what, the darling of my womb? what, the darling of my desires? (What, my darling? what is it, the darling of my womb? what is it, the answer to my prayers?)
3 Give thou not thy chattel to women (Give thou not all thy substance to women), and thy riches to do away kings.
4 A! Lemuel, do not thou give wine to kings; for no private there is, where drunkenness reigneth. (O! Lemuel, do not thou give wine to kings; for there is no secret place, where drunkenness can reign.)
5 Lest peradventure they drink, and forget dooms, and change the cause of the sons of a poor man. (Lest perhaps they drink, and forget justice, and pervert the cause of the poor.)
6 Give ye cider to them that mourn, and wine to them that be of bitter soul.
7 Drink they, and forget they their neediness; and think they no more on their sorrow.
8 Open thy mouth for a dumb man, and open thy mouth for the causes of all sons that pass forth. (Speak thou for the dumb, and for the causes of all those who pass forth before thee.)
9 Deem thou that that is just, and deem thou a needy man and a poor man. (Judge thou with judgement, or with discernment, and give thou justice to the needy and to the poor.)
10 Who shall find a strong woman? the price of her is far, and from the last ends. (Who shall find a woman of virtue? her value is far above anything else.)
11 The heart of her husband trusteth in her; and he shall not have need to robberies. (Her husband trusteth her in his heart; and he shall have no need for robbery, or for theft.)
12 She shall yield to him good, and not evil, in all the days of her life.
13 She sought wool and flax; and wrought by the counsel of her hands. (She sought out wool and flax; and skillfully worked them with her hands.)
14 She is made as the ship of a merchant (She is made like a merchant’s ship), that beareth his bread from [a]far.
15 And she rose by night, and gave lifelode to her menials, and meats to her handmaidens. (And she arose at night, and gave sustenance to her servants, and food to her servantesses.)
16 She beheld a field, and bought it; of the fruit of her hands she planted a vinery. (She saw a field, and bought it; and from the fruit of her hands, or out of her earnings, she planted a vineyard.)
17 She girded her loins with strength, and made strong her arm.
18 She tasted, and saw, that her merchandise was good; her lantern shall not be quenched in the night.
19 She put her hands to the wharve, and her fingers took the spindle.
20 She opened her hand to the needy man, and stretched forth her hands to a poor man. (She opened her hands to the needy, and stretched forth her hands to the poor.)
21 She shall not dread for her house of the colds of snow (She shall not have fear for her household concerning the cold and the snow); for all her menials be clothed with double clothes.
22 She made to her a ray-cloth; bis, either white silk, and purple is the cloth of her. (She made a ray-cloth for herself; bis, or white silk, and purple maketh her cloak.)
23 Her husband is noble in the gates, when he sitteth with the senators of [the] earth. (Her husband is well-regarded at the city gates, when he sitteth with the elders of the land.)
24 She made linen cloth, and sold it; and gave a girdle to a merchant.
25 Strength and fairness is the clothing of her; and she shall laugh in the last day. (Strength and beauty be her clothing; and she shall laugh at tomorrow/and she shall laugh on the last day, as she did on this day.)
26 She opened her mouth to wisdom; and the law of mercy is in her tongue. (She opened her mouth with wisdom; and the law of love, or of kindness, is upon her tongue.)
27 She beheld the paths of her house; and she ate not bread idly (and she did not eat the bread of idleness).
28 Her sons rose up, and preached her most blessed; her husband rose (up), and praised her.
29 Many daughters gathered riches; thou passedest all. (Many women have gathered in riches; but thou hast surpassed them all.)
30 Fairness is deceivable grace, and vain; that woman, that dreadeth the Lord, [she] shall be praised. (Beauty is deceptive, and will not last; but that woman, who feareth the Lord/who revereth the Lord, yea, she shall be praised.)
31 Give ye to her of the fruit of her hands; and her works praise her in the gates. (Give ye her credit for the fruit of her hands, or for all that she hath done; and may her works bring her praise at the city gates.)
11 I would that ye would suffer a little thing of mine unwisdom, but also support ye me.[a]
2 For I love you by the love of God; for I have espoused [spoused] you to one husband, to yield a chaste virgin to Christ [to give you, a chaste virgin, to one man, Christ].
3 But I dread, lest as the serpent deceived Eve with his subtle fraud, so your wits be corrupted, and fallen down from the simpleness that is in Christ.
4 For if he that cometh, preacheth another Christ, whom we preached not, or if ye take another spirit, whom ye took not [whom ye received not], or another gospel, which ye received not, rightly ye should suffer.
5 For I ween that I have done nothing less than the great apostles.
6 For though I be unlearned in word, but not in knowing. For in all things I am open to you. [For why though I be unlearned in sermon, or word, but not in science, or knowing. Forsooth in all things I am showed, or made known, to you.]
7 Or whether I have done sin, meeking myself [meeking, or making low, myself], that ye be enhanced, for freely I preached to you the gospel of God?
8 I made naked other churches, and I took wages to your service. [I spoiled, or made naked, or took gifts, of other churches, taking wages to your service.]
9 And when I was among you, and had need [And when I was with you, and needed], I was chargeous to no man; for brethren that came from Macedonia, fulfilled that that failed to me [supplied, or fulfilled, that that failed to me]. And in all things I have kept [me], and shall keep me without charge to you.
10 The truth of Christ is in me; for this glory shall not be broken in me in the countries of Achaia [in the regions, or countries, of Achaia].
11 Why? for I love not you? God knoweth.
12 For that that I do, and that I shall do, is that I cut away the occasion of them that will occasion, that in the thing, in which they glory, they be found [such] as we.
13 For such false apostles be treacherous workmen, and transfigure them(selves) into apostles of Christ.[b]
14 And no wonder, for Satan himself transfigureth him(self) into an angel of light. [And no wonder; soothly he Satan transfigured him into an angel of light.]
15 Therefore it is not great, if his ministers be transfigured as the ministers of rightwiseness, whose end shall be after their works.
2001 by Terence P. Noble