Bible Strands
Proverbs 30:3
I have not learned wisdom, and I have no knowledge of the Holy One.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Agur speaks in Proverbs 30, positioning his declaration of ignorance between his self-assessment in verse 2 and his rhetorical questions about God’s cosmic authority in verse 4.
The words — חָכְמָה (chokmah) translates literally to wisdom, and קְדֹשִׁים (qodashim) means the Holy One. The syntax pairs these nouns to show the speaker lacks both cultivated insight and direct acquaintance with God.
The thread — This exact pairing of wisdom and knowledge of the Holy One appears in Proverbs 9:10 as the basis for understanding. Romans 11:33 and Ephesians 3:18 extend the theme to God’s unsearchable judgments and the saints’ pursuit of divine comprehension.
Why it lands — The verse requires readers to acknowledge the limits of human education before divine reality, demanding humility rather than self-reliance.
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.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
I neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the holy.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 9:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
- Romans 11:33 O, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and untraceable His ways!
- Ephesians 3:18 will have power, together with all the saints, to comprehend the length and width and height and depth
- Revelation 3:7 To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of the One who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What He opens no one can shut, and what He shuts no one can open.
- Job 11:7 Can you fathom the deep things of God or discover the limits of the Almighty?
- Isaiah 6:3 And they were calling out to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Hosts; all the earth is full of His glory.”
- Isaiah 6:10 Make the hearts of this people calloused; deafen their ears and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
- Isaiah 30:11 Get out of the way; turn off the road. Rid us of the Holy One of Israel!”
- Isaiah 57:15 For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in a high and holy place, and with the oppressed and humble in spirit, to restore the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the contrite.
- Amos 7:14 “I was not a prophet,” Amos replied, “nor was I the son of a prophet; rather, I was a herdsman and a tender of sycamore-fig trees.