Proverbs 30:21

Study note

Setting — Agur addresses his audience with a proverbial introduction, positioned between warnings about deceitful adultery and social reversals, to frame a numbered list of destabilizing events.

The words — רָ֣גְזָה (Ra.ge.zah) = it quakes/trembles and תּוּכַ֥ל (tu.Khal) = it is able/can bear, anchoring the physical instability described in the verse.

The thread — The “three, four” proverbial structure recurs in wisdom and prophetic literature, notably in Agur’s own list in verses 22–23 and in the judgment sequences of Amos 1–2.

Why it lands — The text states that specific human and social realities will cause the earth to tremble and lose its capacity to support itself, demanding recognition that moral and structural corruption produces tangible instability.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.