Proverbs 30:4-14

4 Who hath ascended up into the heavens, and descended? Who hath gathered the wind in his fists? Who hath bound the waters in a mantle? Who hath established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son's name, if thou knowest?

5 Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.

6 Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.

7 Two things do I ask of thee; deny me [them] not before I die:

8 Remove far from me vanity and lies; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the bread of my daily need:

9 lest I be full and deny [thee], and say, Who is Jehovah? or lest I be poor and steal, and outrage the name of my God.

10 Speak not too much about a servant to his master, lest he curse thee, and thou be held guilty.

11 There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother;

12 there is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, yet are not washed from their filthiness;

13 there is a generation, -- how lofty are their eyes, how their eyelids are lifted up!

14 -- a generation whose teeth are swords, and their jaw-teeth knives, to devour the afflicted from off the earth, and the needy from [among] men.

Proverbs 30:4-14 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Imrah: see Ps. 119.11.
• [b]. Or 'tried,' as Ps. 18.30: see Ps. 119.140.
• [c]. Strictly, 'lay hands on:' for this use of the word, see ver. 28.
• [d]. Or 'Accuse not.'