Proverbs 30:2-12

2 I am too stupid to be human, and I lack common sense.

3 I have not mastered human wisdom, nor do I know the Holy One.

4 Who but God goes up to heaven and comes back down? Who holds the wind in his fists? Who wraps up the oceans in his cloak? Who has created the whole wide world? What is his name—and his son’s name? Tell me if you know!

5 Every word of God proves true. He is a shield to all who come to him for protection.

6 Do not add to his words, or he may rebuke you and expose you as a liar.

7 O God, I beg two favors from you; let me have them before I die.

8 First, help me never to tell a lie. Second, give me neither poverty nor riches! Give me just enough to satisfy my needs.

9 For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say, “Who is the LORD ?” And if I am too poor, I may steal and thus insult God’s holy name.

10 Never slander a worker to the employer, or the person will curse you, and you will pay for it.

11 Some people curse their father and do not thank their mother.

12 They are pure in their own eyes, but they are filthy and unwashed.

Proverbs 30:2-12 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 17

This chapter begins with a prophecy of Elijah, that there should be want of rain for some years to come, and he is directed to go first to the brook Cherith, where he should be fed by ravens, 1Ki 17:1-7, and afterwards he is sent to a widow at Zarephath, where he, she, and her son, were supported for a considerable time with a handful of meal, and a little oil in a cruse miraculously increased, 1Ki 17:8-16, whose son falling sick and dying, he restored to life, 1Ki 17:17-24.