Proverbs · Chapter 30

The words of Agur, the son of Jakeh אגור בן יקה, the words of Solomon, who gathered (אגר) understanding (בינה) and vomited it (והקיאה). The Sages interpreted it in this manner. the prophecy He said this prophecy on that matter. the words of the man concerning, “God is with me; said the man that is Solomon this prophecy concerning himself because of איתיאל because he relied on his wisdom to increase gold, horses and wives, which he was forbidden to increase, and so he said, “God is with me, and I will be able. I will increase wives, and they will not turn my heart away; I will increase gold, and I will not turn away; I will increase horses, and I will not take the people back to Egypt.” yea, God is with me, and I will be able” Since he said, “God is with me, and I will be able to do it, and I will not stumble.” לאיתיאל, because of “God is with me,” as in (Ex. 14:3): “For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel (לבני),” meaning of the children of Israel.

"The words of Agur" — he lived in the days of Solomon, walking in his integrity, possessing knowledge, and honored in his generation; therefore King Solomon gathered his words of wisdom into his book. "Bin" [pointed with a chirik] — like [it would be] with a tzeirei, as [in] "reish" and "rash," "son of Nun," "son of a night," "a son deserving of lashes" [instances where the construct "ben" is vocalized variably]. "The burden" — [means] prophecy, in the sense of the oracle that Hashem conveys to a son of man. "Utterance" — of the pattern of "zevul." "The man" — this is Agur, in the sense that his wisdom prevailed. "Ithiel and Ucal" — were wise men, companions of Agur, or his disciples. Another interpretation: "the son of Yakeh" — [alludes to] "the gathering of the peoples," for on account of David it is said of [his] son: "Solomon, son of Yakeh, and Kohelet, and Agur" [are one and the same] — he is "the utterance of the man" to Ithiel, concerning the matter of women and horses, of which he said: "I will multiply [wives], and my heart will not turn away, and I shall prevail" — for [in this] he acted brutishly. Ithiel is consoled afterward and says: "I have acted like one who has not learned wisdom, nor known the knowledge of the heavens." And Kohelet sought to know, in judgment, [how] to acquit and to condemn without witnesses — yet the Torah speaks [of judgment] only on the testimony of witnesses. And concerning this it is said, "Kohelet sought..." — that he [wished] to be answered from the heavens, but this was not granted to him. Or, he said — and it is written, "upright, the words of truth" — for the sake of the Torah: "Every word of God is pure; add not," etc. And [he continues]: "I did not ask a proper thing, for I asked something that was not mine to ask — how was it that Moses ascended to heaven and descended; and Aaron, who gathered in the wind, as it is said, 'and he stood between the living and the dead'; and Elijah, who bound up water in a garment; and Joshua, who established all the ends of the earth [when he said], 'Sun, be still, at Gibeon'?!"

"The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, etc.," until "the words of Lemuel" — [as for] "the words of Agur," it seems that Solomon called himself "Agur" on account of the matters that he gathered together in this book, just as he called himself "Kohelet" on account of the matters included in the book of Kohelet. Now, "Agur" is related to the notion of gathering and collecting, and he called himself "the son of Yakeh," meaning: the son of one who vomits — and the intent is that he is gathered within himself and collected from the corresponding thoughts on the great inquiries, and he wishes to vomit out the burden and load of unjustified thoughts so that the justified ones remain with him. And he relates that he had already stated this discourse to a certain sage whose name was Ithiel, and that he stated it also to him — to his companion, whose name was Ucal.

"The words of Agur the son of..." [etc.] — That is to say: these are the words of Solomon, who gathered and amassed understanding, and because of the abundance of that understanding he vomited up prophecy, for it was taken away from him. "The utterance of the man" — That is, since the words of "the man" are those of Solomon, it was fitting for him to say "for the sake of Ithiel," and it goes on to explain, stating that he said, "for the sake of Ithiel, and I can" — meaning, Hashem is with me, and He gave me wisdom from His own mouth, and therefore I am able to do whatever my heart desires, to multiply wives and silver and gold, for despite all this my heart will not turn away from Hashem, since there is no wise man like me who needs a fence and a safeguard. So then, because he relied on his great gathering of understanding, he said, "I will multiply wives," etc., "and [my heart] will not turn away," etc. But in the end it is said of him, "his wives turned away his heart" (1 Kings 11), and after this it says, "and [Hashem] was angry," etc., "because his heart had turned away," etc., "[Hashem] who had appeared to him twice" — as if to say: that which had appeared to him twice had indeed already appeared, but from then on He did not continue to appear to him again, because of the sin that his heart had turned away from Hashem. Thus, the abundance of his gathering of understanding was the cause for the removal of prophecy.

"Agur" — an expression of gathering, as in "he who gathers (ogeir) in summer" (above, 10:5). "Son" (ben) — from the language of understanding (binah). "Jakeh" (yakeh) — from the language of vomiting/purging (hakaah). "The burden" (ha-masa) — the prophecy. "Says" (ne'um) — an expression of utterance. "To Ithiel" (le-Itiel) — this word is composed of two words: "iti El" (God is with me); and the letter lamed [prefixed, translated "to"] functions like "for the sake of," as in "open your mouth for the mute (le-illem)" (below, 31:8). "And Ucal" (ve-ukhal) — from the language of ability (yecholet).

"The words of Agur" — in this section, the men of Hezekiah copied down the words of a certain sage named Agur son of Jakeh, who was appointed over song, and for this reason it is called by the name "the burden." Agur would respond with words to sages who asked things of him: once he answered a sage named Ithiel, and once he answered Ithiel and Ucal — for the two sages, Ithiel and Ucal, asked him and he answered them.

For I am more boorish Because I relied on my wisdom in a matter that the Holy One, blessed be He, is concerned lest one come to sin.

"For I am brutish" — since I am more brutish than a man, and I do not have human understanding regarding these deep inquiries.

"For I am brutish" — That is, and these are his words, that he said: Now I see that I am devoid of the knowledge of a man, and I do not have the understanding of a man; for behold, I despised the word of Hashem, and what use is my wisdom to me?

"Brutish" (ba'ar) — foolish, without knowledge, like an animal (behemah); and it is from the language of "we, and our cattle (be'ireinu)" (Numbers 20:4).

(2-3) "Surely I am brutish, unlike a man" — This is Agur's response concerning matters that these sages had asked him about the creation of the world and its coming into being, and the secrets of the Account of Creation (ma'aseh bereishit). As is clear from his response, these sages had investigated the matter by way of philosophy, and wished to inquire what is above and what is below, what came before and what will come after, and on this they raised up opinions according to their own intellect, just as the philosophers investigated this generation after generation and came up empty-handed. Agur answered them: how can they demand of him "the knowledge of the holy ones" (da'at kedoshim) — which is these lofty forms of knowledge that cannot be known through human investigation, but only through a divine revelation to holy ones, for the matters known to them from the secret of God to those who fear Him, in these depths, are called "the knowledge of the holy ones" — how could I know such knowledge, seeing that I am brutish, unlike a man, etc.? Now, we have already explained elsewhere that the order and the levels of knowledge are: wisdom (chochmah), understanding (binah), knowledge (da'at). The first is wisdom, which is not known through a proof of the intellect, but only from God alone, who made known the laws of wisdom in His Torah and taught it to mankind. After it comes understanding, for once one has received the laws of wisdom from God, then the possessor of understanding — who understands one thing from another — is able to reflect upon it with understanding, to grasp its reasons and to derive one thing from another; and then, after understanding, one comes to the category of knowledge, for the definition of knowledge is that one knows the thing with clear knowledge, just as one knows things perceived by the senses and the first intelligibles. And the man who has reached this level will have a divine spirit shine upon him, to make known to him "the knowledge of the holy ones" — which is the truths in the secrets of God in the Account of Creation and in the Account of the Chariot (ma'aseh merkavah), the secret of creation and of providence, the connections among the worlds, and the like. Accordingly, since "I am brutish" — for the brutish person is the opposite of the one who knows, as it is said, "a brutish man does not know" — and more than that, "I also have not the understanding of a man," since understanding precedes knowledge, as it is said, "if there is no understanding, there is no knowledge" — and more than that, "I have also not learned wisdom," which is the very first of them all — if so, how could I know "the knowledge of the holy ones," which is the last and most exalted level of all? Yet in his words he added, at each point, a further degree to lower himself: for there is a "knowledge" that is a lesser level than all — the simple knowledge found in every single person, namely, knowing things that are grasped by the senses, or knowing the first intelligibles planted in the intellect of every person; and one who does not know even such things is called by the name "brutish" (ba'ar), from the language of "cattle" (be'ir) and "beast" (behemah), meaning that he is animal-like and goes out from all humanity — and this is the meaning of "I am brutish, unlike a man." So too, in understanding there is a level that is lesser than wisdom — the simple understanding found among many people who make use of their understanding — and this is the meaning of "I also have not the understanding of a man," that is, even the simple understanding found among people; "and I have not learned wisdom," meaning that he has not even begun to learn it at all. If so, how could I know "the knowledge of the holy ones," the knowledge unique only to the holy ones, upon whose intellect a divine light has shone?

Neither have I learned wisdom nor do I know the knowledge of the holy ones, for I subtracted or added to the words of Moses.

"And I have not learned wisdom" — I do not have the capacity to know the knowledge of the holy ones, who are the movers of the heavenly bodies. Now, on account of my deficiency, a strong perplexity befalls me regarding these inquiries that I am about to mention, and matters like them, were it not for what the Torah has guided me toward. The first point is that a doubt may already arise concerning what is well known: that orders [of celestial influence] emanate from the heavens, by which whatever is on earth is brought to completion — just as it is seen that from the sun emanate the cycles of the day and the cycle of the year, which have a wondrous role in natural phenomena, in everything beneath the sphere of the moon. And the same is seen with regard to the moon — that is to say, that an effect indeed reaches from it to these lower things. And the same inference applies to the rest of the heavenly bodies. The matter is not more well-known or more evident in some of them than in others, and the doubt concerns this very description.

"And I have not learned" — I am as though I had not learned wisdom. "And knowledge" — the word "not," stated at the beginning of the verse, serves double duty, as if it said, "and I do not know the knowledge of the Holy One" — meaning, I did not understand the meaning of the holy words in what Scripture states, "neither shall he multiply wives to himself... that his heart turn not away," etc. (Deuteronomy 17:17). For the intent is not to say that when he multiplies [wives], perhaps his heart will turn away — as though the matter were contingent and in doubt — rather, the intent is to say that he will certainly turn away, and there is no wisdom [that can stand] against the Torah of Moses.

Who ascended to heaven like Moses? Who gathered wind The soot of the furnace. Who wrapped the waters (Ex. 15:8): “The depths were congealed”; (ad loc.): “The floods stood upright like a heap,” through Moses’s prayer. Who established the Tabernacle, through whose establishment all the ends of the earth were firmly established. In this way, it is expounded in the Pesikta. What is his name and what is the name of his son If you say that there already was one like him, tell me what his son’s name is; i.e., what family is descended from him, and we will know who he is. if you know if you know who he is. Now how did you not fear to transgress His words?

"Who is it that ascended to heaven and descended" — that is, [who] has the power to ascend to the high heavens and descend to the earth, which is the depth [below] — I do not know Him through my wisdom. "In his fists" — so that the listener understands that his fists and his hands are [a figure for] his will, or his intellect; that is to say, that he gathers the wind so that it does not blow. "Who has bound the waters" — as if he bound them in the clouds, which resemble a garment, in order to rain them down upon the earth. "All the ends of the earth" — so that they do not totter; and the "ends" are the extremities that stand upon nothing. "What is his name" — for their descendants did not attain to their [fathers'] name and knowledge; and even I am one of them. And now I have asked two things from you. "What is his name, and what is his son's name" — that he might know Him through his wisdom. "If you know" — you, Ithiel — [whether he be] a man or his son — tell me the name of one of them that you know. And the meaning is: he cannot know Him, and there is none among the creatures who knows Him through wisdom.

"Who has ascended to heaven" — Who among the lowly [sublunar] things ascended to the heavens, or who from the heavens descended to the earth, such that there could be a relationship between the heavens and the earth, in a manner that would allow forces to flow from the heavens by which what is on earth is brought to completion? For this question is profound and highly uncertain from many angles, and we will mention the strongest of them, in order to shorten the discussion of this matter. The first aspect is that it would seem necessary that the agent which causes an effect must possess, in some manner, in actuality, what the recipient of that effect has only in potential. For example: fire does not turn what is potentially hot into actually hot except because fire itself has heat in actuality. And since this is so, and it is established beyond doubt that the heavenly bodies possess none of these qualities from which these lowly existents derive their influence — namely, heat, cold, moisture, and dryness — a strong doubt arises as to how these qualities, and what follows from them, could flow to them from the heavenly bodies. The second aspect, which is likewise profound in its depth, is that one might think that things which differ from one another must have differing origins, and so it would seem necessary that the origin correspond to that for which it is the origin, to the point that the origin of imperishable things must be different from the origin of perishable things. And since the origin of imperishable things must itself be imperishable, it would seem to follow from this that the origin of perishable things is itself perishable — and this is what rules out the heavens being the origin of what is on earth. Unless one posits that something from among these lowly existents ascended to the heavens — itself perishable like them, and finite — and that it is from there that these forces descend and flow; but this is a matter of the utmost strangeness and untenability. And if we wished to fully resolve this doubt we would need a lengthy discourse that this commentary cannot contain, and what we have mentioned of it will suffice for us. The second doubt: "Who has gathered the wind in his fists" — [does this ask] whether a single wind/spirit is emanated from the totality of the heavens in certain respects — namely, the elements — and this is the living spirit which, in certain respects, the philosophers called "the soul emanated from the spheres," whose existence is established in the Book of Living Beings (Sefer Ba'alei Chayim). For in this too there are profound doubts, as we explained in chapter 5 of the Book of the Wars of Hashem: the first, how a single indivisible thing can emanate from a multiplicity; and the second, how it is possible for an effect to be more perfect than each one of the proximate causes from which it emanated — for this is the case with this soul we have mentioned, in relation to the movers of the heavenly bodies from which it emanates. And a further doubt arises as to how this spirit becomes intertwined with the elements, and in what manner this is possible. The third doubt: "Who has bound the waters in his garment" — [does this ask] whether the firmament is, within the upper waters, some division of them, as is mentioned in the Torah, and as is explained in our words in the Book of the Wars of Hashem, that there must necessarily be, between one sphere and another, a body that does not retain its own shape — this is what is called "the upper waters." Now the doubt here is that this upper body is free of the qualities by which freezing and solidification occur in things, and it is likewise not possible for us to posit that a creation of the world would occur in them, whether from the direction of cold or heat, serving as the cause in them of what happens in the bodies among us — where some of them freeze from the cold and some freeze from the heat, as will be explained in the Book of Meteorology (Sefer Ha'otot). Now this question is profound and very difficult, and if we were to expand the discussion of it, and of the doubt that arises from it concerning the existence of the upper waters — a doubt which is itself implicit in the force of this question — we would need a very lengthy discourse; and one who examines our words in chapters 3 and 5 of the Book of the Wars of Hashem will grasp this with little study. The fourth doubt: "Who has established all the ends of the earth" — [does this ask about the fact] that this [dry-land] portion is exposed from it, such that the waters do not surround it, as would have been fitting according to the natural order? For if we said that the cause of this is the influence of the heavenly bodies, as the Philosopher [Aristotle] stated, then the doubts mentioned in the first of these would necessarily apply. Moreover, we have already explained in the Book of the Wars of Hashem, and in our commentary on the Book of the Heavens and the World, that it is impossible to attribute this to the stars; for if that were so, it would be necessary that what is exposed of the earth form a complete circle, since those stars circle completely around the earth in a full circuit — yet we do not find that what is exposed of the earth is more than twelve hours['-worth], as Ptolemy the Greek stated, which was established from lunar eclipses, as understood by observers in the east and in the west. And in general, there is no way for a wise person to arrive at the cause of this unless he is aided by what the Torah mentions concerning it: "what is his name, and what is his son's name." For you should know: they called the proximate cause of a thing its "son," because it is an effect of the cause that is higher than it. And the intent of "tell me, what is the cause that acts to produce this?" is: if you say that this cause acts by means of another, closer cause, then that closer cause is called by a name that indicates what flows from it, according to what its name signifies — the example being with these names: for we would say that Hashem created man by means of the Active Intellect, and the Active Intellect created him by means of the seed of the male and the female that are fit for this being to come from them, as has been explained in the natural sciences. However, regarding the doubts we have mentioned, you cannot name either the [proximate] agent-cause or its "son" in a manner fitting for this [phenomenon] to arise from it. Therefore, you must regard these compelling lines of reasoning as doubts concerning these matters, and rely instead on the word of Hashem in the Torah and in the Prophets, from which the belief regarding these matters — in which the doubt fell — has been made clear, and the doubt regarding them has been removed by what is stated concerning the creation of the world; for after this we will not need to seek, regarding these matters, causes of the kind given for natural things. And all this has already been explained in our words, in the fifth and sixth treatise of the Book of the Wars of Hashem.

"Who has ascended" — Who else has ascended into heaven, as Moses ascended into heaven and descended in peace? Or, it means that he ascended to take the Torah from the hand of the angels. "Who has gathered" — When Moses threw the soot of the furnace, it scattered over the whole land, as though he had gathered the wind in his fists in order to scatter it by his own hand; and so it says, who else has gathered like him? "Bound" — When the sea was split, the waters that were flowing down stood still and did not continue on their course, as though he had bound them up in a garment; and who else has bound [them] like him? "Who has established" — For before the Torah was given, the earth was tottering, about to fall; and when Moses received the Torah, he established the ends of the earth to stand firm in their place; and who else has established the earth like him? "What is his name" — This is a rhetorical figure of speech, as if one said to another: if there were anyone like him, tell me his name; or if you have forgotten his name, tell the name of his son, if you know that there was ever anyone comparable to him of old. That is to say: since there never was anyone who could be compared to him, how did my heart dare to turn away from his words on the basis of [my own] estimation and reasoning? And he speaks as one complaining against himself and regretting his former ways, teaching a lesson so that no one should follow his path of relying upon his own wisdom.

"And descended" (ve-yarad) — from the language of descent; or, it is an expression of dominion and rule, as in "and he shall have dominion (ve-yeired) from sea to sea" (Psalms 72:8). "In his fists" (be-chofnav) — its meaning is the fullness of the hollow of the hands, as in "and his hands full of incense (chofnav ketoret)" (Leviticus 15). "Bound" (tzarar) — an expression of binding, as in "his bundle of money (tzeror kaspo)" (Genesis 42:35). "In his garment" (ba-simlah) — in a sheet (sadin). "The ends of" (afsei) — the extremities (ketzavot). "And what" (u-mah) — the vav ["and"] here stands in place of "or."

"Who has ascended" — meaning, and how could I know "the knowledge of the holy ones," to know "who has ascended up into heaven, and descended" — which was his question in the Account of Creation, to investigate how the two primal elements of matter (chomrei ha-hiyuli, prime matter) from which heaven and earth were created came into being, and who set for them their place, on high and below, which are the places of heaven and earth — who ascended to heaven to fix the depth of the height, and who descended to fix the depth of the lowest point. And also the question that I asked, "who has gathered the wind in his fists" — that the element of air, whose way is to spread out into every place in which a vacuum is found, who gathered it and confined it so that it stands around the globe of the earth up to the sphere of respiration — for up to there the air hovers around the earth, and from there upward our air, which is fit for the breathing of all living creatures, is no longer found, but is rarefied and refined — who gathered it in his fists in this manner? And also the question, "who has bound the waters in his garment" — that the waters, whose nature is to surround and cover the whole globe of the earth all around, who bound them so that they would all collect together in the Ocean Sea, and set sand as a boundary for the sea so that it should not spread, as though they were bound up in a garment so that they could not go out from there? And further, the question "who has established all the ends of the earth" — who set the boundary of the nature of the earth, that it should stand upon its center and be suspended upon nothing, with all the ends of the earth around it drawn toward the gravity and the attractive force found at its center? And it is clear that he arranged before him questions concerning all four elements: for heaven is the place of the element of fire, according to the ancients, and after it come questions on air and water, and on earth, which is the element of dust. "What is his name, and what is his son's name" — for the questioner was philosophizing according to the view of the philosophers, that from the First Cause there emanates a first effect, which is the emanated Intellect, which they called by the name "son" of the supernal Emanator. "If you know" — meaning, that you wish to know and to attain all this; or, meaning, that you boast of knowing all this by your own intellect and investigation — but is this not a thing impossible to attain through human investigation? Rather, only —

Every word of God is refined Heb. צרופה, refined, and He did not write anything unnecessary. [Therefore,] I should have been careful.

"Every word of God is tried" — like the phrase "the words of Hashem are pure words" (Psalm 12:7); these are the commandments, refined like purified gold, and in them lies the wisdom of the fear of Hashem, and one should not occupy himself with anything else. Therefore, "add not to His words" — you, Ithiel — like the phrase "you shall not add to it, nor take away from it" (Deuteronomy 13:1). "A shield" (magen) — the mem is an added [non-root] letter, as also in "menagen" [a musician]; and likewise "mishberei El" [mighty breakers]. "Eloah," "not," "two" (30:5-7) — three verses joined together, in the manner of a prayer.

"Every" — Behold, every word of Hashem is tried [refined], meaning that it is clean of dross and of matters that proceed by degrees of uncertainty. And He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him, to guard them from error and from matters in areas such as these, where error carries a person far from his true success. And it is for this reason that these great foundational principles were stated in the Torah and in the words of the Prophet.

"Every word" — Now I see that every word of God is refined and purified, without dross or stumbling-block, and it is a shield and a refuge to save from the stumbling-block of error those who take refuge in it — but not those who take refuge in their own wisdom, as I did. For had I not relied on the support of my own wisdom to say, "I will multiply [wives]... and [my heart] will not turn away," I would not have stumbled into transgression. For even if the intent were that the matter is contingent and in doubt, in any case one must not rely on [his own] wisdom and turn away from it.

"Is tried" (tzerufah) — refined of dross, as in "in vain does the refiner refine" (Jeremiah 6:29).

"Every word of God is tried" — that in all these investigations one must rely upon the testimony of the Torah, that everything was created out of nothing (yesh me-ayin) through the utterance of Hashem and the word of God. The words of the Torah concerning the Account of Creation are purified of all dross, for everything that the ancient philosophers said about this is like silver dross plated over earthenware, whereas Hashem is a shield to all who take refuge in Him, and they do not go astray after vain and deceptive falsehoods.

lest He prove to you, and you be found a liar He will prove to your face that through your addition you have come to sin, and certainly if you subtract.

"You shall add" (tosef) — is composed from "yasaf" [he added] and "safah," which means "the sweeping away of sin"; and the proof of this is the shva that is under the samekh. And another interpretation: it is composed from "tosef" and "tukhaf" [pressed/joined upon], on the pattern of "yered" [he went down]. Now I will return to explaining, and I say that the words of the sage [Agur] are [divided into] seven sections, all of them in the manner of moral instruction; and each section [is built of] four things, except for "two things I have asked" (v. 7). And so too the Sages were accustomed to say, "four dispositions in man," "four dispositions among students" (Mishnah Avot); and within these, six verses are joined together telling of the four elements — which are: heaven, this being the element of fire, which is hot and dry; and wind (ruach), the element of moisture and heat; and water, cold and moist; and earth, the element of cold and dryness. And so the interpretation is: "the words of" (divrei) stands in place of "two," as though "the words of Agur" meant "the words of the pronouncement and the prophecy," similar to "the counsel of Ahithophel... was as if a man inquired of the word of God" (2 Samuel 16:23). "The speech of the man" — it is possible that they asked him for words of divine wisdom, Ithiel and Ucal; and the man humbled himself and said to them: 'How can you ask me, for I am more brutish than a man, and I do not even have the understanding of one man; I have not learned wisdom concerning the divine matter, nor do I know the knowledge of God' — that is to say, I have no wisdom and no knowledge. "Lest he reprove you" — this concerns one who has transgressed a negative commandment (lo ta'aseh). "And you be found a liar" — you will be a liar by occupying yourself with a wisdom other than the wisdom of His commandments, "and you be found a liar" — similar to the phrase "lying children" (Isaiah 30:9), who are so called because they rebel against the mouth of Hashem.

"Add you not" — Concerning the words of Hashem, one should rather contemplate them in a manner that does not require you to understand from them an addition to those matters. For if you are lax in your study of them, to the point of making it easy on yourself when the text does not readily yield its meaning, you might then say — and so too with what follows — that a word or words are missing, in this way. Lest Hashem reprove you, so as to deter the rest of mankind from doing likewise, on account of the very evil and loss that will befall you, until you remain with vanity and falsehood, devoid of all survival of the soul whatsoever.

"Add not" — Since His word is refined, without any dross or stumbling-block of error, therefore add nothing to them, lest, when your words are examined, they be found false and erroneous — and how then could they be joined to the refined word of God?

"Reprove" (yokhiach) — an expression of clarifying/reasoning matters, as in "come now, and let us reason together (ve-nivachah)" (Isaiah 1:18). "In you" (bakh) — that is to say, concerning your words. "And you be found a liar" (ve-nikhzavta) — from the language of falsehood (kazav).

"Add you not to His words" — to say in this matter things out of your own intellect, lest He reprove you, for He will show you that you do not know even your own self — how you were created, and the details of your limbs and their connections, and the binding of the soul within the body — and how much more so, how could you dare to ascend the levels to speak of lofty matters, of the construction of the world in general and its coming into being? And thereby "you will be found a liar," and it will be revealed that you have made falsehood your refuge and have fabricated lies and falsehoods that have no substance in them.

I ask two [things] of You Now he addresses the Holy One, blessed be He.

"Two things I have asked" — This wise man says, speaking to Hashem, may He be blessed: two requests I have asked of You; do not withhold them from me before I die. For after death, a person can no longer acquire perfection — that can happen only in his lifetime.

"Two things" — Now he speaks before the Omnipresent, blessed be He, and says: two things I ask of You, and do not withhold them from me before I die — meaning, let them not be withheld from me all the days of my life.

"Two things" — accordingly, Agur said to Hashem: I have asked two things of You; do not withhold them from me before I die the death of the soul, through my straying from the way of faith to follow after the ways of the philosophers, who weave spiders' webs and who envision false and deceptive visions.

poverty Heb. ראש, poverty. provide me Heb. הטריפני, an expression of food, and similarly (Ps. 111: 5): “He has given food (טרף) to those who fear Him.”

"Falsehood" (shav) — like "sheker" [a lie]. "And words of lies" — that I not be a false witness. And the vav of "and riches" (va-osher) stands in place of "or." "Feed me" (hatrifeni) is from the same root as "that there may be food in My house" (Malachi 3:10). "My allotted portion" (chuki) — that which is fitting for me, to sustain the soul.

"Remove falsehood and lying words far from me" — In my apprehensions, keep falsehood and lying words far from me, so that I do not err and become confused in my contemplation, and so that my study not be occupied with vain things that have no reality — for example, one might say, contemplation of some remote existence beyond reach. It appears that by "falsehood" (shav) he alludes to what is false, and by "a lying word" to what is vain — or the reverse of this. Now it happens to a person that he investigates and studies something that does not exist, thinking that it does exist — whether because of an error of the imagination, or because of a false report that befell him, or because of opinions he inherited in this matter from others. The second request is that You not give me poverty and destitution in understanding, so that I fall short of the ideas that a person is capable of attaining; nor give me wealth of understanding either, to turn me toward seeking wisdom in what a person is incapable of attaining — but rather grant me, in matters of understanding, the nourishment fitting for the intellect, neither less nor more. This, indeed, is a great request; it is not possible to find a person who attains it, even among the thousands who attempt it. But it is fitting that every person who contemplates this matter should strive with all his might.

"Falsehood and lying words" — this is one and the same thing, and the matter is doubled using synonymous terms, like "the dust of the earth" (Daniel 12). "Remove far" — meaning, put it in my heart to speak truth and to despise falsehood. "Feed me" — sustain me with an allotted measure of food, sufficient to keep the soul alive, and no more.

"Poverty" (reish) — poverty (aniyut). "Feed me" (hatrifeini) — an expression of sustenance, as in "He has given food (teref) to those who fear Him" (Psalms 111:5); and it is borrowed from the term for an animal's food that comes by means of prey (teref). "My allotted" (chuki) — that which is apportioned to me, as in "and ate their portion (chukam)" (Genesis 47:22).

"Remove falsehood and lying words far from me" — meaning: let me not be poor in understanding, comprehending nothing, to the point that I come to believe in a false belief — that is, in things that have no substance whatsoever, like the idolaters who believed in every manner of foolishness and folly, which is false belief. Nor [let me be] rich in my intellect, breaking through into speculation to excess, until I produce words of falsehood — as the philosophers/investigators multiplied words of falsehood to deny that the world was created out of nothing, and said that the world is eternal, like the eternity of Hashem, and issued forth from Him of necessity, like a shadow from the sun, or like the intellect united with its object of thought. And so too they denied [the faith] and fabricated falsehoods regarding every cornerstone of belief. On this he gives the parable, "poverty and riches, give me not" — for the first [poverty] is one who is poor in his intellect, and the second [riches] is one who is too rich [i.e., who overreaches] in his intellect, and both of them depart from the faith. "[But] feed me only with my allotted bread" — and in its applied sense [the nimshal]: that one should become wise through the wisdom of the Torah, which is the bread of the soul, intended for its perfection and its life.

lest I become sated from wealth. and deny the existence of the Holy One, blessed be He, out of my extreme haughtiness. Now what is the denial? And I say, “Who is the Lord?” Meaning, there is no God. and take hold of the name of my God to become accustomed to swearing by it falsely.

"And I deny" [Hashem] — this is [explained by] "and say, who is Hashem," similar to "I do not know Hashem" (Exodus 5:2). "And take hold of" [profane] — that I swear an oath about the theft, and I am caught in a false oath by the name of my God; and the "taking hold" refers to the mentioning of the [divine] Name.

"Lest I be full" — and turn to seek wisdom about what I am unable to attain, and say, "Who is Hashem?" — meaning, "What is He?" This is something that cannot be grasped by anyone but Hashem Himself. Therefore, this line of inquiry will lead me to deny Him and to fashion a god out of something that does not exist in that way — since I would be attributing to the deity an essence that does not exist in that way — and this will lead to heresy and to believing in something other than Him. "Or lest I be poor" — and refrain from inquiring into what a person is capable of attaining, and this will be the cause of my failing to establish the necessity of there being a God who is the Agent of all existing things; and my deficiency will be so gross that I will steal God away from among the things that exist, and say that there is no God — as Epicurus and his faction used to say — while thinking that all I had denied was the mere name, since what it signifies has, in my view, no reality. And this would be, in a certain sense, even more severe than the harm that results from seeking wisdom beyond what is proper.

"Lest I be full" — meaning, that when I have great wealth, lest I become overly full and grow proud and deny Hashem, saying, "Who is Hashem?" — that is to say, there is no God. "Or lest I be poor" — and if I am poor, lest, when I am overly destitute, I steal wealth to satisfy my craving soul, and I take hold with my mouth, mentioning the name of Hashem, swearing by it falsely.

"And profane" (ve-tafasti) — an expression of seizing/grasping (achizah).

"Lest I be full, and deny [Hashem], out of an abundance of good" — and in its applied sense: that one who delves too deeply with his intellect to inquire into what lies beyond nature [metaphysics] will come to deny the existence of Hashem, and to say that the world is eternal and that Hashem did not create everything. "Or lest I be poor, and steal, and seize the name of my God, to swear falsely" — and in its applied sense: that one who is poor in his intellect will steal and take for himself the forces of nature or the powers of the stars, and seize upon them the name of divinity, and worship idols. Therefore the middle path is best: that one's intellect not break forth beyond the faith established in the Torah, but that he believe in everything about which the Torah, given by God, has made him wise.

Do not inform Do not deliver your case against a person to complain about him to the Holy One, blessed be He, even if he is wicked, who curses his father and possesses all the abominations mentioned here, and the proof of the matter is from Hosea son of Beeri, as is stated in Pesachim (87b) in the chapter entitled “The Woman,” that he informed on lsrael and said, “Exchange them for another nation.” Replied the Holy One, blessed be He, “Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry” (Hos. 1:2).

"Do not slander" — in this verse he warns against talebearing, and mentions the fleeing servant, for [informing on] him is worse than any other talebearing. "Do not slander" — do not reveal him and inform on him with your tongue. He is a servant fleeing from the idol-worshiping nations to the Land of Israel in order to convert, so that he should not be returned to his master, as it is said, "he shall dwell with you... in your land" (Deuteronomy 23:17). "A servant to his master" — the two are not the same, similar to "you shall not deliver a servant unto his master" (Deuteronomy 23:16), and there he mentions that one should not inform against him to his master. "And you be found guilty" — you have already incurred guilt, since he fled to you for the sake of the honor of Hashem, to take refuge under His wings.

"Slander not" — He continues, warning a second time concerning the words of the Torah, that one should not sin in studying them and err, and then blame the words of the Torah for this. And since the Torah is like a servant of Hashem, serving Him by bringing man to the attainment of perfection through it, he warned that a person should not blame his own confused notions on the words of the Torah — for in doing so, it is as though he had slandered the servant to his master, telling him that his servant had led him astray. And he said that if you do this, perhaps his master — that is, Hashem — will curse you, and you will become desolate and ruined, on account of your treating His Torah lightly. He then gave a parable, saying that this shameful act of understanding the words of the Torah in this deficient manner is comparable to the case of one who curses his parents, who raised him and, in a sense, brought him into existence, and does not give them the honor due them, but curses them instead. So too with one who studies the Torah: had he given honor to the words of the Torah, he would have delved deeply into understanding them in the proper manner, and would have rejoiced thereby, free of error in its teachings. Instead, he treats the words of the Torah lightly, despite the abundance of good it bestows upon him in ethical instruction and understanding — good by which it enlarges his soul and nourishes it with the sustenance through which eternal life is acquired.

"Slander not" — do not speak slander about a servant before his master; and it speaks of the ordinary case, for it is the way of slander to be spoken before someone to whom the person spoken about is subordinate and of whom he is afraid. "[Lest] he curse you" — lest the servant curse you, and you become desolate.

"Slander" (talshen) — from the language of informing (malshinut) and evil speech (lashon hara). "And you be found guilty" (ve-ashamta) — from the language of desolation (shemamah), as in "the flocks of sheep are made desolate (ne'ashamu)" (Joel 1:18).

"Do not slander" — This too is Agur's answer to the sages Ithiel and Ucal. Regarding these wondrous words, I intend to explain them in two ways: the plain approach and the philosophical approach: The Plain Approach (10-15) The discourse of these sages concerned political matters, regarding a certain king who lived in their days and the wickedness of his conduct. And as is clarified from the response, in Agur's days there was a certain king, a man of malice, who denied God, and who likewise led the people of his generation [into this denial]. He had two wives, daughters of one mother, whose name was Alukah ["Leech"], and these wives of his corrupted the people, and by their counsel he killed and destroyed many of the people. There was also at that time a drought and a withholding of rain, and also fire consumed all the cities of the kingdom, until they suffered many troubles and evils. Now this king, when he came to reign, removed his father from his throne and rebelled against his father and mother, and reigned in his place on the advice of his wives. He had a maidservant named Shemamit ["Spider"], and she was a woman of cunning and stratagems, with whom the king committed harlotry; and she spread her net over him, until her husband — a servant of the king named Alkum — rebelled against the king, removed him from his throne, killed him, and gave his flesh to the birds of the sky, and the maidservant inherited [the position of] her mistress. Ithiel and Ucal learned of the matter of the rebellion, and thought to inform the king, and took counsel with Agur ben Yakeh. He answered them: "Do not slander a servant to his master" — do not inform against him, lest he curse you and you be found guilty — for since he [the rebel] was trusted in the king's house, it might happen that the curse would return upon the informer, for the servant would justify himself in judgment, and they would not be able to establish the matter, and they [Ithiel and Ucal] would emerge guilty for having slandered him falsely. Besides this, he told them that the king and his generation deserved destruction, since he is (11,13,14) "a generation that curses its father" — for just as the king disgraced those who bore him and brought them down from their thrones, so too, following him, all the people acted to disgrace those who bore them; and likewise he is "a generation pure in its own eyes," even though it has not washed away its filth, and they commit all the abominations; and they are "a generation whose eyes are lofty," in pride and arrogance, in an evil way; and they are "a generation whose teeth are swords," to devour the poor of the land — meaning that they are wicked and sinful both toward God and toward people, both in their deeds and in their character. Therefore Hashem punished them, for "the leech [Alukah] has two daughters" — these are the two wives of the king, who are the daughters of Alukah; "they say, Give, give" — they rob and plunder and destroy the people (one may also explain that the name of the wives themselves was "Give, Give"). And these two daughters — "there are three things that are never satisfied" — [meaning] they [the wives] never have their fill of the blood of the slain, so as to destroy the three evil classes he had in mind, namely: "a generation that curses its father," "a generation pure in its own eyes," and "a generation whose eyes are lofty." And "four" — which is the fourth class, namely "the generation whose teeth are swords" — "never say, Enough" — for they devoured them with their whole mouth, measure for measure, just as they devoured the poor of the land. The Philosophical Approach These men, Ithiel and Ucal, who philosophized before Agur, believed in the eternity of the world, or in eternal primal matter, and said that the world sustains itself through the constant process of coming-to-be and passing-away, and through the four elements, which continually exchange their forms and transform into one another, mixing and blending together. From this they held to the Epicurean view that the world runs according to its own custom, with no one supervising or ruling over it, and they mocked the worship of God, saying, "What profit is there in our serving Him," since there is no one who supervises and accepts the service of human beings. And in response to this, Agur said to him: (10-11) "Do not slander a servant to his master" — do not speak slanderous words against the servant who serves God, "lest he curse you" — [meaning,] his Master, who supervises and hears your words, will curse you for this, "and you be found guilty" — for the blame will roll back upon you, since through your approach people came to heresy. And there arises "a generation that curses its father" — one who denies his Father in Heaven and says that the world came into being on its own, without a begetting father, that is, without a Creator; "and does not bless its mother" — [meaning] that even the matter from which, according to his view, the world came into being, he will not bless, for he will say that it is a source of corruption, that it devours its own offspring and destroys its own children and produces others in their place, and that evil prevails within it over good — as is known to be the view of these heretics. And also, according to their corrupt view, they held themselves not obligated in the honor of father and mother, for they said that it would have been better for a person not to have been created than to have been created, and that his existence in this world is to his own harm — and so they curse their father who caused them to come into existence.

"Generation... generation, generation, generation... to the leech" (30:11-15) — "a generation [that curses] its father"... "yet from its filthiness is not washed" (30:11-12): these four things are joined in interpretation with the four "daughters" [of v. 15]. And the proof of this is: "a generation [that curses] its father" (30:11), "the eye that mocks at [its] father" (30:17), [joined with] "to the leech" (la-alukah) — which is like "avvat" [crookedness], and it ought properly to be vocalized "akulah," on the pattern of "mishpat me'ukal" [a perverted judgment] (Habakkuk 1:4); and the word undergoes transposition [of letters], just as "keseb" and "keves" [both forms of "lamb"], and "yir'afun" (Psalm 65:12) and "ya'arof" (Deuteronomy 32:2) [both meaning "to drip/drop"]; and "two, and three" is a manner of scriptural elaboration. "And does not bless" [its mother] — for she weaned him, and she deserves blessing. And there is a generation that is pure and honorable in its own eyes, yet "from its filthiness is not washed" — that is to say, one who cannot even wash his flesh from its filth, how then will he wash his heart from its wickedness, and yet he thinks that he is pure?! This alludes to the arrogant.

"There is a generation," etc. — this refers back to the above, meaning: even regarding a generation that is so breached [in morals as this one], and lest you think to slander between them so that each man's sword be against his fellow and they perish through their sin — nevertheless I warn you: do not slander. "Does not bless" — does not mention them [father and mother] in a term of blessing, but rather in a term of cursing.

"A generation that is pure" — He states a parable about one whose study is infiltrated with falsehood and lying words: that he is like a generation that is pure in its own eyes, yet is not washed of the filth and dirt that is most repugnant — namely excrement, whose stench is perceived by all who come near it. And so it is with falsehood: for falsehood and lying words, in relation to the nourishment of the soul, are like excrement in relation to the nourishment of the body. For the body is nourished by food, and the residue unfit to nourish from is excrement; and the soul is nourished by ideas — it takes the truth and casts away the falsehood, for it is not fit to be nourished from it. And he further states a parable regarding one who seeks wisdom excessively and studies matters that cannot possibly be attained: that this resembles the matter of the generation that is brazen-faced.

"A generation that is pure" — even if that generation considers itself pure and clean of sin, and because of this is not washed from the filth of its deeds — for one who considers himself a sinner sometimes contemplates repentance, but not so one who considers himself pure.

"From their filthiness" (u-mi-tzo'ato) — from the language of excrement and filth.

The Philosophical Approach "Generation" — they too are a generation that is "pure in its own eyes, though it has not washed away its filth" — for they say that there is no need for the deeds of the Torah, nor for sanctifying oneself and washing away from desires and from every evil trait, since in their view there is no Torah and no divine religion; and they commit every abomination that arises in the spirit of their desire, for they say that one should conduct oneself according to the temperament of matter, and according to its measures and properties — whatever arises in their spirit and whatever the desire of their animal soul wants.

A generation—how lofty etc. This refers to haughtiness.

"A generation" — whose eyes are lofty, and whose eyelids are lifted up — the opposite of what the modest person does. This is a very repugnant trait, leading to great sins; and likewise this trait leads, in matters of belief, to sins, as explained above.

"A generation — oh how lofty" — even if that generation's eyes are exceedingly lofty, etc. — meaning, they are coarse of spirit.

"Lofty" (ramu) — high. "Their eyelids" (ve-af'apav) — the pupil of the eye.

The Philosophical Approach "Generation" — they too are a generation, "oh, how lofty are their eyes!" — for they lift up the eyes of their inquiry to investigate matters too great and too wondrous for them, probing into matters of divinity and what is beyond nature, as if by the power of their own intellect they could grasp everything. And also "their eyelids" — which are what close the eyes — "are lifted up," meaning they do not close their eyes to hide their faces from gazing at God; rather, they send forth their eyes to the place where darkness is His hiding place and thick cloud is His covering.

A generation whose teeth are [like] swords [These are] the outer [teeth]. and its molars Its inner teeth.

"Swords" [charavot] — [directed at] the oppressed, the needy. "To the leech" — like the matter of the crooked and perverse deeds committed by the four generations; there are "daughters" and offspring, four, by which Hashem judges them.

"A generation whose teeth are like swords" — He states a parable about one who becomes poor and steals, profaning the name of his God: that this is comparable to a generation whose teeth are like swords, to cut and destroy things, and whose molars — the grinding teeth — serve to devour the poor and consume them from the earth, and to consume the needy from among mankind. So too, this kind of person destroys, in the same way, every matter of belief, for such people easily go astray through their deficient opinions; the wise, however, cannot be harmed by such corrupt opinions. He further states a parable about the intensity of this person's consuming and his destruction, through this corrupt notion, of many who lack understanding: this is astonishing — he is never satisfied. For "the leech has two daughters" — that is, the worm called "artogya" in the vernacular, which sucks blood from a person — it is never satisfied until it fills itself wondrously full from him; then it falls off and disgorges the blood, and afterward it returns continually to fill itself in this way — it is never satisfied. And each of these three say, "Give, give" — they are never satisfied.

"A generation whose teeth are like swords" — even if that generation's teeth are like swords, and its jaw-teeth like knives, to devour with them the poor, to consume them from the earth, and to destroy the needy from among mankind — meaning, they devour with the whole mouth and destroy the needy until they are no longer counted among mankind; thus their evil is exceedingly great.

"Swords" (charavot) — from the language of "sword" (cherev). "Knives" (u-ma'akhalot) — knives, as in "and he took the knife" (Genesis 22:10). "Their great teeth" (metal'otav) — these are the inner teeth [molars]; and so, "the jaw-teeth of the unjust" (Job 29:17).

The Philosophical Approach "Generation" — they too are a generation "whose teeth are swords," for since they do not believe in a divine Torah, in providence, or in reward and punishment, they do not even have among them a civil code of law; rather, they become like the fish of the sea, where the great swallows the small, and they devour with their teeth the poor and the destitute.

The leech has Menachem (Machbereth p. 134) interprets עלוקה according to its apparent meaning. We learn that it is Arabic, but the commentators say that it is an expression of the grave and the descent. Indeed, we learn this in Midrash Psalms (31:9), which interprets the “two daughters” as Paradise and Gehinnom. This one says, “Give me righteous people!” and this one says, “Give me wicked people!” four that do not say, “Enough!” Heb. הון, lit. wealth. We have much [wealth].

"Daughters" — offspring; that is to say, Hashem engendered them, and likewise "his daughters." And "hon" means money. Another interpretation: like "your wealth is enough for you" (rav lakh honekha); "liqhat" is from "yiqhat amim" (Genesis 49:10), and its sense is "to join, to gather." And the interpretation is: there is a generation whose father it curses, though it is fitting to honor him.

"To the leech" — "Give, give" — "never satisfied" — "there are three that are never satisfied, and four that never say, Enough" — The first is Sheol, which is the first prime matter (hyle), and he likened it to the absolute substrate whose existence is the most deficient among the elemental existents; and it is clear that it is never satisfied by its putting on of forms one after another. Likewise "the closing of the womb" — that is, pregnancy, for then the seed is held back in the womb — or, "the closing of the mouth of the womb" — it is never satisfied by its very nature, for it always seeks pregnancy. So too, "the earth is never satisfied with water" to nourish the plants, for even if rain falls upon it, it will need rain again after that, and this never ceases; or he means by this — and this is more correct — that water is continually forming within its interior, never ceasing to form in its springs. As for the fourth, it is the one most similar to this matter that is being likened, and therefore he set it apart from the rest: it is fire, which never says "Enough," so long as there continues to be found near it something that fire is able to consume. And so it is with these corrupt opinions that arise on account of poverty of understanding: they never cease to destroy people, so long as there continues to be found one deficient in knowledge who is liable to be led astray by them.

"The horseleech" — He likened the pit of the grave to the horseleech, for it sucks in and draws all creatures to itself, in the manner of the horseleech that sucks blood. "Two daughters" — These are the Garden of Eden and Gehinnom. The Garden of Eden says, "Give me the righteous," and Gehinnom says, "Give me the wicked." This is a figure of speech (melitzah), as if to say: let not the righteous person think that there is not enough room for him in the Garden of Eden, and let not the wicked person think that Gehinnom is already filled from end to end so that no place will be found for him — for it is not so, since each of them still desires more people, for they are wide open, and each one will come to his own place. "There are three" — That is to say, although there are three visible judgments which are never satisfied with executing judgment and never grow weary of judgment, nevertheless there is yet a fourth beyond them, which takes in still more judgment; and for most of the kinds of suffering within it, they never say "enough for us in carrying out judgment," for their hands never slacken from it.

"The horseleech" (la-alukah) — it is a worm that grows in rivers, which sucks blood until its entire body is filled; and in the words of our Sages, of blessed memory: "the hazard of the leech" (Avodah Zarah 12). "Give" (hav) — give, as in "give me children" (Genesis 30:1). "These" (hennah) — it [the feminine form] functions the same as "heimah" [used] for masculine [nouns]. "Enough" (hon) — an expression of sufficiency and abundance; and thus [this word] is also used for an abundance of wealth.

The Philosophical Approach (15-16) "To the leech" — now he explains in what manner they deny their Father in heaven, for they say that the world came into being on its own through primordial matter; and they said that this primal (hylic) matter has two daughters. (And "Alukah" [leech] is the name of a certain philosopher whose name was Alukah — meaning, "according to the school of Alukah"; or perhaps he calls this hylic matter itself by the name "Alukah" [leech], which is a creature that sucks blood, since it constantly sucks blood and murder, for this matter wears away everything that comes into being from it.) There are two daughters that say, "Give, give," and there are three that are never satisfied, and four that never say, "Enough." And he explains "Sheol": the two daughters that say "Give, give" are "Sheol" and "the closed womb" — meaning, the coming-into-being and the passing-away that are imprinted in matter, for "Sheol" is the passing-away, and the dominion of the womb is the coming-into-being that gives birth from its womb to everything; and these are the two daughters through whom everything that comes into being comes into being, for there is no coming-into-being except through a passing-away [of something else]. And the three that are never satisfied — that is, "the earth that is not satisfied with water," meaning the three elements earth, water, and air, which constantly combine with and transform into one another. Now, it is known that the element of air and the element of water are intermixed with each other, for water is composed of two airy elements, containing seventy-nine parts of the element "acidic air" (Sauerstoff [oxygen]) and eleven parts of "suffocating air" (Stickstoff [nitrogen]); and the air, too, is composed of these same elements, only in a different proportion, since it does not contain as much "acidic air," as is known in chemistry; and they are constantly transforming into one another, as is known. And he further indicates that the element of earth, too — which is the third element, "the earth that is not satisfied with water" — absorbs into itself the element of water together with the element of air within it, and these likewise transform into one another. And the fourth is "the fire that never says, Enough" — that is the element of fire, which melts/dissolves all of them and is the great force in the world of coming-into-being and passing-away. These are the elements of creation according to the view of Alukah, in combination with the two daughters who say "Give, give," who generate and destroy everything.

the confined womb Sexual intercourse.

"The grave" (Sheol) — that the cursing generation will be cast into it and will die before their time, similar to "he who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death" (Exodus 21:17). "And the barren womb" — that the womb, the opening of the belly, will be closed, and they will not bear children, on account of the generation that is not washed from the impurity of harlotry, so that it will have no children and no offspring. "And the earth that is not satisfied with water" — for lack of rain, so that the sown fields dry up, and the proud and the haughty are brought low through famine. "And the fire" — this is the fire that comes down from heaven to consume the generation that devours the poor and oppresses the needy, like the fire that fell upon them in the days of Elijah, and likewise, "and fire went forth from before Hashem" (Leviticus 9:24). Or the "fire" alludes to the drying heat, as when the rain does not come down. And he mentions the father and mother a second time, because this generation — the one that mocks and curses — is worse than the other three generations. And "the eye that mocks at [its] father" who disciplines it, and disdains obedience to the mother who chastises it, shall be slain, and "the ravens of the valley shall pick it out" — for they show no mercy toward their offspring, and it will not be gathered for burial; for one who honors them will lengthen his days.

"Sheol" — This is the grave, which is never satisfied with the corpses of the dead — whether young men who die, or their offspring, before their eyes. "And the barren womb" — There are many cases found where a woman's womb is restrained and she does not bear children, and so they go childless. "The earth" — Many times the rain falls in a small measure, and it is not enough to satisfy the thirst of the earth, and people perish of hunger. And behold, these three judgments are constant. "And the fire" — That is to say, after a person's death he is judged by the various kinds of fire of Gehinnom, and it goes on burning, for it is never extinguished and never says "enough."

"The barren womb" (ve-otzer rechem) — the prevention of conception, as in "for Hashem had closed up fast (atzor atzar) every womb" (Genesis 20:18).

The Plain Approach "Sheol and the closed womb" — therefore they were punished through the "Sheol" of the dominion of the womb, meaning, the dominion of the king's wives, who widened their soul like Sheol to swallow and destroy; and therefore other providential punishments also befell them: "the earth that is not satisfied with water" — this was the withholding of rains; and "the fire that never says, Enough" — fire consumed all their cities.

the mother’s wrinkles Heb. ליקהת, the wrinkles that gather (נקהין) in his mother’s face, from the expression of (Gen. 49:10): “a gathering (יקהת) of peoples.” The “yud” is a radical, like יפעת, splendor; (יעלת חן) (Prov. 5:19), a graceful mountain goat. pick it out Heb. יקרוה, an expression of (Num. 16: 14): “will you pick (תנקר)” (Ex. 33:22) “In the cleft (בנקרת) of the rock.” Forer in French, to bore through. Let the raven, which is cruel to its young, come and pick it and not eat it and not derive benefit from it, and let the eagle, which is compassionate with its young, come and eat it and derive benefit from it. The raven is cruel, as it is stated (Ps. 147:9): “to the young ravens which cry,” and the eagle is compassionate, as it is stated (Deut. 32: 11): “It bears its young on its wing.”

"The young vultures" [benei nesher] — for they [ordinarily] show compassion toward their parents and their young.

"The eye that mocks at a father" — After he completed this parable, he returns to give a parable a second time about one who errs regarding the intentions of the Torah on account of treating it lightly. This is the one he likened to "a generation that curses its father, and does not bless its mother," and he said that the eye of the heart which mocks at the father — that is, the Torah — and despises the gathering of the mother — that too being the words of the Torah — meaning one who does not examine well what necessarily follows from each word among its words, and from the gathering of its words and their order, some together with others, until this becomes a cause for him to err regarding its [the Torah's] intentions — that eye will be pecked out by the birds of prey that hasten to come upon it swiftly, meaning that his calamity will come upon him suddenly, as he alluded to by saying, "lest he curse you, and you be found guilty." He stated this as a parable about this matter — treating the words of the Torah lightly, until one errs in matters, without perceiving within the Torah by which path he went, that led him to this error.

"The eye that mocks" — The eye that mocks, with its gesturing, at the discipline of the father, and disdains the gathered rebukes of the mother and the arrangement of her words, for such is the manner of women. "Shall pick it out" — The recompense of its punishment is that the ravens found by the stream will peck out the eye. The cruel raven — of which it is said, "to the young ravens which cry" (Psalms 147) — will come and take vengeance on the one who showed cruelty in mocking his father and mother. However, they will not eat the eye, for they themselves are cruel, and one does not benefit from the cruel one. "And shall eat it" — The young of the vulture, the merciful ones, of whom it is said, "As an eagle stirs up its nest, etc." (Deuteronomy 32) — they will eat the eye and benefit from the cruel one.

"To obey" (li-kehat) — an expression of gathering and assembly, as in "and to him shall be the gathering of peoples (yikhat amim)" (Genesis 49:10). "Shall pick it out" (yikruha) — an expression of piercing/gouging, as in "and they put out (va-yenakru) his eyes" (Judges 16:21).

The Plain Approach "Eye" — and the end of the king will be that the eye which mocks his father and rebels against his father, and despises him and his mother who reigns, therefore "the ravens of the valley shall pick it out" — measure for measure, just as ravens likewise do not recognize their own mothers; "and the young vultures shall eat it" — for their trait is the opposite of the raven's, since they do recognize their offspring and those who bore them, as the Sages explained. The Philosophical Approach "Eye" — in response to this, he says of him, "[The] eye [that] mocks the father" — the eye of this philosopher, who mocks the Father of all creation, who is Hashem, who brings all things into being; "and despises the obedience due to the mother" — that is, the matter that was created from nothing, through which Hashem thereafter brings forth all of existence, from the time that the first creation — which was from nothing — was completed, like a father who begets through the mother. And they say that everything happens by chance. "The ravens of the valley shall pick it out" — this too is measure for measure, as the Sages said, and as stated in the plain-sense explanation.

are concealed from me They are covered after they passed from my eyes, and I do not know where they went, because they hasten to hide from the eye.

"And three," "the way," "so" (30:18-20) — three verses joined together. "Are too wonderful" (nifle'u) — [meaning] hidden.

"Three things are too wonderful for me" — their ways, and they do not leave a trace on that path. "And four which I do not know" — Now the fourth [category] does leave a repulsive trace from it, even though it is not perceived. The first is "the way of the eagle in the sky" — no trace of that path can be discerned in the sky, though its way is to seize prey. The second is "the way of a serpent on a rock" — no trace of the path it took can be discerned on that rock, but the end of its way is to destroy and to harm, as is the manner of the serpent. The third is "the way of a ship in the heart of the sea" — it is not known which way the ship that sank in the sea passed. And the fourth is "the way of a man with a maiden" who is [in fact] a married woman — this is not perceived in her, except that he has diminished the worth of that path through this shameful act of intercourse, until this maiden, who had been dear and precious in his eyes, becomes repulsive in his eyes. And so it is with one who treads in his inquiries into the words of the Torah in this deficient manner: for he will find in them, by means of this repulsive approach, repulsive things, and they will become repulsive to him in place of what had been precious [to him].

"There are three things" — That is, just as these three are wondrous and hidden from me, so that I cannot know the manner of their movement after they have gone, so too the fourth thing — I do not know them, that is, I cannot discern the matter after it has occurred.

"Too wonderful" (nifle'u) — an expression of being hidden/beyond grasp, as in "if a matter be too hard (yipale) for you" (Deuteronomy 17:8).

The Plain Approach (18-20) "Three" — After recounting these words of response, [Agur] presents the oracle, which consists of parables and epigrams that were composed at that time about the new king — namely, King Alkum, who had been a slave who rebelled against his master and became king in his place — and [parables] were composed about him and about his wife, the maidservant named Shemamit, who had become queen in place of her mistress: four parables and epigrams in all. The first parable was said about the new queen, who had been a maidservant at first and had committed adultery with the king and with her master, and had concealed her adulteries, and had betrayed her companion and beloved, the king. About her the composers of the parables said, "three things are wondrous" — meaning, they leave no trace whatsoever along their path, and it is as though they had never gone there at all: namely, the way of the eagle in the air, the way of the serpent on the dust, and the way of a ship in the water. And so too is it found with the fourth element, the element of fire — likewise a matter that leaves no trace at all afterward — namely, in the love of the adulteress, whose flames are flames of fire. Therefore it says of the fourth, "I did not know them" — that here too the trace is erased — namely, the way of a man with a young woman. And it explains, meaning, such is the way of an adulterous woman: she eats, and wipes her mouth, as though the fire of love had never been there at all. The Intellectual Approach (18-20) "There are three things" — He shows them their error. For who is it that instilled the nature of procreation in all living creatures, so that through their mating they beget in their own image and form, and through this nature the species are preserved throughout all creation? Now, the intellect cannot grasp how this comes about through mating, for as it appears, it should be that no trace at all would remain from it. And he explains that just as in all the elements there are found actions that leave no trace behind them whatsoever — such as the flight of the eagle in the element of air, the movement of the serpent over the rocky ground, and the ship in the water — so too should it be with the way of a man with a young woman, which comes about through the heat of the element of fire, such that no trace at all should result from it. But have we not seen that such is indeed the way of an adulterous woman, who eats and wipes her mouth, and no union or offspring remains from it, to the point that she can deny the very act itself and say, "I have done no wrong"? From this it is clear that this is a matter of God, who established it thus within the general order of creation — for this is not [explained] by the nature of primordial matter (the hyle) and the combination of the elements, but rather through the Creator of all, by His will: He commanded, and they were created, and He established them forever, so that through this the species are preserved in existence.

"The eagle" — I do not know how it flies in the firmament, in the air of the heavens; and it does not know where it will come to rest upon the earth. Another interpretation: "the way of the eagle" — that it leaves behind no path by which a person could see where it passed; and so with all of them. "And the way of a serpent" — how is it possible to travel upon a rock without legs? And it does not know in what place it will be able to rest. "And the way of a ship in the heart of the sea" — which risks danger in passing through the heart of the sea, and does not know to which harbor the wind will carry it. "With a young woman" (be-almah) — in his fornication with her, in that he does not fear Hashem when he transgresses the commandment "you shall not commit adultery," and gives no thought to his end.

"The way of an eagle" — The path the eagle traveled when it flew up toward the air of the heavens cannot be known, for it flew through the air and the path is not discernible. "The way of a serpent" — The path the serpent traveled upon the rock cannot be known, for the track of a footstep is not discernible upon a rock — all the more so since the serpent travels upon its belly, and its tracks are not known at all. "The way of a ship" — The path the ship traveled in the midst of the powerful depths of the sea cannot be known, for as soon as it moves on from the place of its passage, the waters return to their steady state and it is no longer recognizable. "And the way of a man" — And he makes a fourth thing equal to them, namely the way of a man's illicit union with a young woman — that is, with a woman who has already had relations — for after the act, the matter is not recognizable, in either of them, neither in the adulterer nor in the adulteress.

"In the midst of the sea" (be-lev yam) — the core/strength of a thing is called "lev" (heart), and so, "the heart of the heavens" (Deuteronomy 4:11); and it is borrowed from the heart of a living being, which is its [vital] strength. "The way" (ve-derekh) — cohabitation (be'ilah) is called by the name "derekh" (way); so did our Sages, of blessed memory, teach (Kiddushin 2). "With a young woman" (be-almah) — one tender in years is called "almah," even though she be married, as in "behold, the young woman (almah) shall conceive" (Isaiah 7:14).

and [she] wipes Heb. ומחתה she turns over her lower orifice, as it is written (II Kings 21:13): “as one wipes (ימחה) a dish, he wipes (מחה) and turns it upside down.” she eats Scripture speaks euphemistically.

"And wipes" (u-machatah) — from the same root as "I have blotted out your transgressions like a thick cloud" (Isaiah 44:22); and the meaning is thus: these are the four that are too wonderful for me, and I did not comprehend them through my wisdom. Likewise, "the way of an adulterous woman" — why does she not fear Hashem? For women are included with men [in this obligation]. And just as she eats and wipes the food from her mouth so that it not be known that she has eaten, so she commits adultery and denies it, and says, 'I have done no wickedness' — and a man ought to guard himself against her. "An adulterous woman" — her husband may cover up the matter when [known by] two, another when [known by] three, and another when [known by] four.

"So is the way of an adulterous woman" — And therefore he likened this maiden to an adulterous woman, whose way likewise is to commit adultery and wipe away the impropriety, and say, "I have done no wickedness." And he further stated this as a parable concerning one whose reasoning is entered by falsehood and deceit.

"So is the way" — That is, such is the way of the adulterous woman: she conceals her promiscuity, saying, "I have done no wrong," since there is no one to recognize it. And he drew a parable, as though she ate something and wipes her mouth so that it will not be apparent that she ate. And perhaps he means to rebuke them, saying: is it not because they resemble, in the matter of concealment, these three, that their hearts became emboldened to do their deeds? Yet of Hashem they show no fear, even though nothing at all is hidden from Him.

"And wipes" (u-machatah) — from the language of wiping and cleaning, as in "wiping it and turning it upside down" (II Kings 21:13).

"For" (tachat) — on account of the trembling of the earth, an allusion to "the people of the land" [common folk].

"Under three things" — for "under three things [the earth] trembles, and under four it cannot bear up." The first is "under a servant when he becomes king," for he is not fit to rule, just as falsehood and vanity are not fit to rule and to reach the intellect; rather, it is fitting that they be pushed away and removed, and that only truth reach the intellect. For indeed, falsehood is like a servant — a servant [whose role is] to attend upon the finding of truth. The second is "under a base man who pursues the company of worthless people, for he is filled with bread" — for he is not fit for this, since this way of his ought to bring him to want and poverty until he lacks bread and clothing, as it is said, "and he who pursues worthless things shall be filled with poverty," because he does not engage in the settling of the world; and so it is with vanity and false speech, which are not part of the settling of the world, but rather things that have no [real] existence. The third is "under a hated woman when she is wed," for it is not fitting that a man join himself to a woman who is hateful to him; and so it is with the joining of vanity and false speech to the intellect, for they are hateful to the intellect. And the fourth is "under a handmaid when she inherits [the place of] her mistress," and the mistress becomes her servant — so it is with vanity and false speech together with the intellect, for false knowledge is like a handmaid, a servant to the true [knowledge], as we have mentioned; and it would be fitting that the intellect inherit true knowledge, and that its handmaid [false knowledge] be removed from association with the intellect. Here, however, the verse [describes] the opposite happening to the intellect through vanity and false speech, and to this he also alludes when he says, "and a handmaid when she inherits her mistress." This is [connected to] what we have already explained in the first [book] of Milchamot Hashem (Wars of Hashem), that success comes to the intellect through the many intelligibles it has attained, insofar as they are, within it, one [unified]; and it happens that when a false intelligible becomes mixed together with the true intelligibles, the form of unity that arises from the totality of the intelligibles becomes something that is not truly so, and thereby he loses that wondrous success which comes to him from the intelligibles by virtue of their being one. This is a very wondrous and profound inquiry, and it is made very clear from what we explained of these profound matters in the first [book] of Milchamot Hashem. And he further gave, as a parable concerning one who is rich in knowledge and grows wiser still, two further parables; in the first parable he explained that wisdom is among the things to which even the small ought to be joined.

"For" — Because of three things the inhabitants of the earth tremble, and because of the fourth it cannot bear the trembling and dread, for it is too great.

"Does quake" (ragzah) — trembles (charadah). "Endure" (se'et) — from the language of bearing and carrying [a burden].

The Plain Approach (21-23) "Under" — The second parable was composed about the king and the queen together: that "under three the earth quakes" — namely, "under a slave when he becomes king," for he had been a slave and had become king in place of his master, and had previously been vile, and now "is satisfied with bread." For the generous man, when satisfied with bread, dispenses of his goodness to the poor, whereas the vile man remains vile and continues in his wickedness. And about his wife they said, "under a hated woman when she is married," for she had been hated on account of her adulteries and evil deeds, and now she is married and has become the king's beloved through an act of harlotry. And worst of all is "a maidservant who inherits her mistress's place" — meaning what she now is: the heiress to the kingdom. The Intellectual Approach (21-22) On this basis he explains to him another parable: that "under three the earth quakes," and the pillars of the house of the soul tremble, and the fourth is the harshest of all — namely, "under a slave when he becomes king." This refers to the time when the imagination reigns in the chambers of the soul in place of the intellect. For the imagination was created to be a servant to the intellect and to submit to its authority; but when it overpowers [the intellect] in the chambers of the soul, and its whisperings [prevail], the earth quakes — for it leads truth astray and fabricates falsehoods and things that have no reality; and it constantly casts doubts upon everything that is trustworthy and firmly established, or it seduces the heart to believe every foolish notion. This is the level of the fool or the simpleton, whose nature was explained in this book. And the second is "a vile man when he is satisfied with bread" — one who is vile, who has not gathered the statutes of wisdom into his noble soul, but has instead gathered words of vileness and folly, and imagines that he is satisfied with the bread of wisdom. This is the level of "one who is wise in his own eyes," whose nature was explained several times: that he imagines that all his deeds are done wisely.

"Under a servant" — for Hashem made him king over them because of their sin; and since he shows no mercy to those he rules, the people tremble. "And a churl" — when he is sated and rules, because of their transgression. "And under a woman" — when she has a husband (be'ulah), for she hates those who hate her, who despised her and could not bear her; therefore they are afraid. And it is possible that she was married because of the sin of those who hate her. "And a handmaid" — for she inherits her mistress and rules over her because of the mistress's transgression. Therefore a person should be careful to avoid sin, so that the contemptible should not rule over the honorable.

"For a servant" — The first is on account of the servant when he reigns, for he does not know the protocols of kingship, and he conducts himself with madness. "And a churl" — The second is when the churl is sated with bread, for many learn from his deeds, saying, "Behold, his bread never runs short," and because of this the trembling and dread increase.

"A churl" (ve-naval) — a lowly and despised man.

"For an odious woman" — The third is on account of a woman hated for her deeds — a harlot, an adulteress — when she is married to a husband, for then she can attribute her pregnancy to her husband, and she increases in seducing men to fornicate with her, and because of this the trembling and dread increase. "And a handmaid" — The fourth is when a handmaid inherits the rule of her mistress, and her mistress becomes a servant to her; and because of her lowly station and folly of mind, she will not have the sense to honor whoever is worthy of honor, and the dread will increase very greatly, for this is a harder thing than all of them, even more than a servant reigning, since she is a woman of limited understanding who knows nothing at all.

"Her mistress" (gevirtah) — her lady/mistress.

The Intellectual Approach "Under" — The third is "under a hated woman when she is married" — this refers to one in whose soul the evil images and evil character traits that oppose the statutes of wisdom have gained mastery — such as anger, desire, pride, and envy — and he takes them to himself as a wife in place of the "loving hind," who is wisdom, who is the "woman of valor" of whom glorious things are spoken — namely, the powers of the soul that govern according to the statutes of wisdom. Now, the powers of the soul that are ordered according to wisdom are all beloved [to one another] — meaning, they all agree with one another and with the intellect. But the powers that oppose wisdom bear hatred and mutual antagonism toward one another, and therefore he calls [this one] by the name "hated woman." This is the level of the dullard, whose nature was explained: that although he knows the statutes of wisdom, his evil wife rules over him, for he has married the "hated woman" — that is, desire and evil character traits — and on their account he strays from the statutes of wisdom. And the fourth, "which [the earth] cannot bear," is "a maidservant who inherits her mistress's place" — this is when one abandons the Torah of Hashem and the wisdom received from God, which is truly the mistress, and chooses instead the false opinions that are the offspring of human reason — philosophy — which is the maidservant given over "to be perfumers, and to be cooks, and to be bakers." He chooses misleading syllogisms and their methods in order to use them to dispute the statutes of the Torah, and "the maidservant inherits her mistress's place" and drives her out of the house of her delights. This is the worst of all — this is the insolent one who disputes insolently against the Torah and brings against it proofs and misleading syllogisms; and "insolent, haughty — 'scoffer' is his name; he acts in arrogant fury."

"Four" — five verses are connected [as a unit]. "Small" — small among the creatures of the earth. "Exceedingly wise" — Hashem made them wise to act this way.

"Four" — He states that there are four things that are small on the earth, yet they are wiser than the wise — an illustration drawn from the rest of the living creatures, to teach that the wise person must be small in his own eyes. For this reason it is fitting that he be wary of investigating great matters that he has no way of attaining, and by this he will be guarded from the ruin that comes of seeking to be wiser than is proper for him, since he will recognize his own lowliness and that his understanding is too limited to attain such things. The first of these are the ants, who are a people not mighty in comparison to the other living creatures, even though they are powerful relative to the smallness of their bodies, for they carry in their mouths many times their own weight; and they act wisely to provide themselves with the food they need in summer, which is the time when it can be found for them. This is among the things by which the wise person is guided not to exert himself in investigation except at a time when what he seeks is likely to be found — all the more so that he should not begin an investigation into something that cannot possibly be found at any future time. Solomon has already mentioned earlier the manner of the ants' wisdom, in that they prepare their bread in the summer, as he said, "Go to the ant, you sluggard." The second are the rock badgers (shefanim), who are a people not powerful, yet they chose to place their house upon the rock and their dwelling in a strong place. This too is a hint that a person should not delve deeply into investigation except regarding matters where he has the strength and wisdom to attain their truth — not regarding something that would become trampled ground for every disputant who comes to dispute it, since he would have no fitting argument with which to repel him.

"Small of the earth" — Small creatures that are on the earth. "Exceedingly wise" — That is, although they are small creatures of the earth and no great wisdom would seem fitting for them relative to the mere need of obtaining sufficient food, nevertheless they are made wise by Hashem, through individual providence, so that they may teach knowledge to the people.

The Plain Sense (24-28) "Four" — the third parable. They directed it at the queen [named] Semamit ("spider"), who, although she was among the small things of the earth, grew powerful and gained strength through her stratagems, until she was in the palaces of a king. And since her name was Semamit, they took the metaphor from the spider (semamit), which grasps with its hands and weaves nets and snares to trap flies, and dwells in the palaces of a king that it wove for itself. So too with her: her heart was made of traps and snares, and she wove nets with the stratagems that she conceived from her own mind — like the spider that draws out its thread from its own body — and she dwells in the palaces of a king, whether at first, when she caught the previous king in the nets of her love, or now, that she is the one who reigns over the land. And the composer of the parable joined to the spider three more small things of the earth that gain strength through their stratagems: the ants, in the matter of diligence; the rock-badgers, in lofty buildings — their stronghold being fortresses of rock; the locusts, in the unity of their army, for they go out in troops and all of them go out in bands; and the spider, in the weaving of hunting nets. And the composer of the parable joined to the spider three more small things of the earth that gain strength through their stratagems: * The ants, in the matter of diligence, * And the rock-badgers, in lofty buildings — their stronghold being fortresses of rock, * And the locusts, in the unity of their army, for they go out in troops, and all of them go out in bands, * And the spider, in the weaving of hunting nets. And one may also say that she captured under her rule three nations that had grown bold at that time: one nation was diligent in gathering wealth and riches and all kinds of food, like the ants; and one nation built for themselves fortified cities with walls, gates, and bars; and one nation was a free people without a king or ruler, only that their assembly was all of one accord, and through this they grew strong. And the spider caught them all in her fine nets — even though she was like spider-webs — and she sat in the palaces of a king, ruling over all of these. The Intellectual Sense "Four" — corresponding to the four things mentioned above, he states that there exist four creatures that are small things of the earth, and they are wise, made wise, so that we would learn matters of wisdom from them — the opposite of the four evil matters that he had discussed. [Hashem] placed in the nature of these four creatures traits that are extraneous, not necessary for their survival and sustenance, but only so that people would learn matters of wisdom from them. And regarding this he said "mechukamim" (made wise), in the pu'al construction (a passive form).

"Not strong" — for they have no power. "Yet they prepare" — their food according to their ability.

"Yet they provide" — Despite all their weakness, they exert themselves to prepare their food in the summertime, the time when grain is found in the field, and to store it away for the days of winter; and they teach a lesson to the lazy, to prepare what they need while it is still within their power.

"The ants" (ha-nemalim) — the name of a small creature. "A people" (am) — it is said thus by way of metaphor; and similarly, "a swarm of bees" (Judges 14:8).

The Intellectual Sense "The ants" — they are "a people not strong," and all the food an ant eats in its entire lifetime is a grain and a half, yet Hashem placed it in their nature that they prepare their bread in summer, gathering and storing up stores of grain that they do not need at all — and this is so that people would learn from this trait in the gathering of wisdom: that they should not rest all their days from gathering and storing the statutes of wisdom, and should not say "enough." This is the opposite of "the fool who is sated with bread" — one who is wise in his own eyes, imagining that he has already gathered into himself the statutes of wisdom, sufficiently and more than enough.

"Not mighty" — its meaning is "numerous," as in "and they multiplied and grew mighty" (va-yirbu va-ya'atzumu). "Their houses are in the crag" — in order to hide there.

"Yet they make" — Despite all their weakness, they exert themselves to make for themselves a dwelling place within the rock, digging into it little by little until they widen out a place to live; and they teach a lesson to the people, that they should not abandon the wisdom of the Torah because it is "longer than the earth in measure," but rather should study it little by little until they complete all of it.

"Rock-badgers" (shefanim) — the name of a certain creature. "Mighty" (atzum) — strong.

The Intellectual Sense "The rock-badgers" — although they are "a people not mighty," and could find shelter from their enemies even in burrows in the dirt and in caves, Hashem placed it in their nature that they build their houses among rocks and strong cliffs, so that we would learn from them to build the house of the soul in fortresses of rock — which is the intellect and its faculties — and not upon the power of the imagination, which has no substance and is full of foolishness and doubts. For "Wisdom has built [her house]" upon strong rocks, and the stronghold of the intellect is her refuge. And this is the opposite of "a servant when he reigns."

"They go forth in bands" (chotzetz) — an intransitive verb, like "yored" (goes down). Compare "his months are cut off" (chodashav chotzetzu), meaning they are gathered and collected, similar to the matter of "my days are fulfilled." Likewise, "yeitze chotzetz" (it goes forth in a band) means it goes forth gathered and assembled, similar to the matter of "the ingathering of the locust" (asaf ha-chasil). Another interpretation: [the word is] from [the place-name] "Chatzatzon-tamar."

"The locust has no king" — The locust has no king to unite it in a single accord, yet it all goes forth together at an appointed time, when it is able to cut down the grasses of the grain crops to have them as its food. This too is a hint to the wise person that he should exert himself to investigate matters of the intellect only at the proper time and to the extent that he is capable of it.

"The locusts have no king" — to lead them together in one assembly the way a king would; yet nevertheless they choose of their own accord to go forth together in one assembly, and they do not separate one from another, and this assembly is of great benefit to them. For if they went singly, people would hunt them; but when they are together, great in number, all hunters give up on them, since it is impossible to catch them all. And they teach a lesson to the people, that they should not quarrel, and that each man should help his brother.

"In bands" (chotzetz) — gathered and assembled; and thus a collection of small stones is called [chatzatz], as it is written, "and he has broken my teeth with gravel (chatzatz)" (Lamentations 3:16).

The Intellectual Sense "The locusts have no king," and nevertheless Hashem placed it in their nature that all of them go forth in bands and unite in a single company, not separating from one another — even though this is harmful to them, since through this it becomes easy for anyone to destroy and wipe them all out. [Hashem] placed this nature in them only so that people would learn from them a matter of wisdom: that all the powers of the soul should go forth as bands, all of them bound together in a single bond, and this is achieved by conducting themselves according to the statutes of wisdom. And this is the opposite of what is said, "an odious woman when she is married" — that the powers which are the opposite of the statutes of wisdom are scattered and opposed to one another.

The spider Erinee in Old French. [Araignee in modern French.] grasps with [her] hands With her hands she grasps and clings to the walls.

"Spider" (semamit) — the name of a creature. It is possible that this is the creature that is likened to man in form and appearance, and the proof is that it is a creature that seizes with its hands, meaning that it grasps whatever is given to it; it is found in the palaces of kings because of its wisdom. These four are wise, and man ought to learn proper conduct from them.

"Semamit" — that is, the spider — she too is a small creature, and by her wisdom she fashions with her hands a web, which is like a net, in which flies, bees, and other creatures that happen to be caught in it are trapped; for by this she obtains her food, as is mentioned in the Book of Animals. She also comes into the palaces of kings, and from there she digs out food for herself. This too is a hint to the wise person that he should not be afraid to investigate great matters, provided it is possible for him to ascertain their truth — just as the spider, for example, is not afraid to enter the palaces of the king, since she is indeed able to obtain sufficient prey for herself there. But it is also possible to say that its statement "in the palaces of kings" comes to explain that, for all her wisdom, she errs in this — for she intends something from which no benefit will come to her, but which will rather bring upon her death and loss. For in the palaces of kings, the servants who clean them do not leave the spider's webs alone, but rather sweep them away and remove them. And this happens to her because of her recklessness in coming into the palaces of kings, when she is not fit to come into them. And such is the case with one who seeks to be wiser than is proper for him — namely, that no fruit will come to him from this, but he will rather bring loss upon himself. In the second image, he mentioned three [creatures] that are "fine of stride" — meaning that they are swift to move toward all things, without first discerning what is fitting from what is not fitting — and a fourth that is "fine of gait," similar to the preceding three. Now he distinguished the fourth from the three in order to relate it more closely to that to which the parable applies, namely, the action taken by the mind of one who seeks to be wiser than is fitting for him. The first is the lion (layish), which is mighty among the beasts; he runs to prey upon whatever creature he finds and does not turn back from anyone, because of his great confidence in his own strength. Yet at times this brings evil upon him, when he fights with one mightier than himself, as is found in the accounts. The second is the "zarzir motnayim" (greyhound, lit. "girt of loins"), which is the slender-loined dog that hunters bring along to hunt; its way, too, is to hasten to run without first considering whether it is stronger than the creature it pursues, or whether the matter is the reverse — and from this much evil and loss can befall it. The third is the he-goat, which is swift of foot, and because of this it will run to fight with whoever is stronger than it, and from this loss and evil befall it. The fourth is the king, against whom none of those who fight him can stand. For such a king constantly rouses himself to rush into war, to conquer lands, because he sees his own great success, and he does not first consider whether it is proper for him to make war or not; and this leads him to wage war continually, as happened to Alexander, until he fell into the hand of one mightier than himself. And the same thing happens with the act of intellectual inquiry: for such a person relies on his own wisdom and does not first consider, regarding the matter he intends to investigate, whether it is fitting for him to investigate it or not; and therefore he falls into this error, which brings upon him great loss.

"With hands" — By the work of her hands she catches what she needs, for she weaves something like curtains, and flies become entangled and caught in them, and they serve her as food. And even though she is in the palaces of kings, a place where many delicacies are to be found, nevertheless she chooses to eat from the work of her own hands, and she teaches the lesson that a person should be sustained by the labor of his own hands and not benefit from what belongs to others.

"The spider" (semamit) — it is a spider (akkavish). "You can take" (titpas) — from the language of seizing and capturing.

The Intellectual Sense "The spider grasps with her hands" and weaves spider-webs — weak and repulsive things that she draws out from her own body — even though she is in the good and beautiful palaces of a king, and even though on account of this they will remove her and kill her. And Hashem placed this in her nature so that man would see that corrupt opinions — spider-webs which one weaves with his intellect, based on syllogisms that he derives from his own reasoning, which resemble spider-webs — [he thinks] that he is weaving with them a lofty fortress; even though she is in the palaces of a king, and she has a tower of strength in which to take refuge, which is the divine Torah — nevertheless, people set up their own imaginings and inquiries in the palaces of the king, to investigate matters of divinity and matters of His palaces, which are the worlds that He created. And this is to their detriment, just as with the spider, this very thing caused her death — so too this brings about the death of the soul and its being banished from the palace of the King of the world, "and her paths lead to the shades." And this is the opposite of "a maidservant when she inherits her mistress's place."

outstanding in their step They walk and succeed with their might.

"Three" — five [verses] are connected: three and four. This is a manner of amplification. "Stately in march, stately in going" — a doubling [of expression], meaning that they walk calmly.

"There are three things" — Just as these three march and go well — that is, with confidence and success — so too the fourth is among those that go well, and is similar to them in confidence and success.

"March" (tza'ad) — an expression of walking and stepping, as in "when [the bearers] had gone [paces] (tza'adu)" (II Samuel 6:13).

The Plain Sense (29-31) "Three" — the fourth parable. They composed this parable about the servant who became king, whose name was Melekh Alkum, who was neither a mighty warrior nor a man of stratagems knowing how to hunt the people with his cunning; rather, he was like a he-goat that walks at the head of the flock because he is the male, and the flock, his sheep, are female — so too he prevailed by means of his wife, by being her husband. And the composers of the parable said that there are three that are stately in their march: the lion rules over the beasts because of his might, for he is mighty among the animals; the zarzir reigns because he is swift of foot and knows how to hunt prey, and he reigns by means of his loins; and the he-goat is the third, who is likewise stately in his march, going at the head [of the flock]. And joined with him is Melekh Alkum, who is stately in going alongside the he-goat, for he is a goat like him, walking at the head of the flock not because of his own merits but because he is a goat — and one might say [this refers to] women, through whom he came to be at the head. The Intellectual Sense "Three" are stately in their march on the path of the commandments, and the fourth is stately in going along the pathways of intellectual inquiry and the attainment of truths.

"The lion" (layish) — its gait is excellent, because it is mighty and is not afraid of any beast, such as lions, leopards, and bears, and does not turn back from any of them, for it is mightier than all of them.

"Layish" [lion] — The lion is the mightiest of all beasts and animals, for a chayah (wild animal) is included in the general category of behemah (animal), as it says, "This is the behemah [that you may eat]... the hart, the gazelle, and the roebuck" (Deuteronomy 14:5). "And turns not away" — When it pursues something, it does not turn back until it overtakes and tears its prey.

"The lion" (layish) — one of the names for the lion, as in "the old lion (layish) perishes" (Job 4:11).

The Intellectual Sense (30) "The lion" (layish) is the power of might within the soul, whereby it prevails like a lion over its animal nature, its physicality, and its desires. "And turns not away for any" means that no power among the powers of its physicality should hold it back. This is the might: that it should not transgress any of the prohibitive commandments (lo ta'aseh).

The greyhound Heb. זרזיר מתנים. I do not know what it is, but from the context appears to be an animal with weak loins. and the king against whom no one dares to rise up Heb. ומלך אלקום I do not know what it is according to its simple meaning, but the Aggadic midrashim interpret these five sections of four as corresponding to the four kingdoms. Since their rule over Israel was strengthened because of the iniquity of having transgressed the five Books of the Pentateuch, Scripture mentions them five times. (v. 16) The grave and the barren womb The grave represents the kingdom of Babylon, for it is stated regarding Nebuchadnezzar (Hab. 2:5): “who widened his desire like the nether- world.” And the barren womb, that is Media, in whose time mercy (רחמים) was held back from Israel, as it is said (Esther 3:13): to destroy, kill and cause to perish.” the earth, which is not sated with water This represents Greece, which was not sated with issuing decrees on Israel. and fire, which does not say, “Enough!” Corresponding to Esau, who acted with burning wrath against Israel, for he said to destroy children and women in one day. And likewise... (v. 19) The way of the eagle This is Babylon, the great eagle, with the long wings (Ezek. 17:3). serpent This is Media. the way of a ship in the heart of the sea This represents Greece, who was swift with its decrees. the way of a man with a young woman This represents Edom, who said, “I will be a mistress forever.” [גבר is interpreted as גברת, a mistress, and בעלמה as לעולם, forever.] (v. 20) So is the way of an adulterous woman The people of Israel brought this evil upon themselves because they played the adulteress with idolatry, and they deserved that the retribution should befall them. and she says, “I have no committed no sin.” As it says (Jeremiah 2:35), “Behold, I contend with you concerning because you say, I have not sinned.” (Until this point are the words of Rashi [as they appear] in Mikraoth Gedoloth.) (v. 21) the earth quakes This refers to Eretz Israel. under a slave This refers to Nebuchadnezzar, who was the slave and secretary of Merodach-baladan, as appears in Hullin. [To my knowledge, this does not appear in Hullin, but in Helek, the eleventh chapter of Sanhedrin, 96a.] and a wretch who is sated with food This refers to Ahasuerus, who made a banquet for one hundred and eighty days (v. 23) a hated woman who is married Corresponding to Greece. and a maidservant who inherits her mistress This refers to Esau, who should have served Jacob, but the matter was reversed. (v. 25) The ants are a people not strong This refers to Babylon, as it is stated (Isa. 23:13): “Behold the land of the Chaldees, this people has never been.” yet they prepare their food in the summer [This refers to] Nebuchadnezzar, who performed one [act of] honor to the Holy One, blessed be He, in the days of Merodach-baladan, when he sent letters to Hezekiah, and wrote therein, “Peace to King Hezekiah; peace to city of Jerusalem; peace to the great God.” Nebuchadnezzar was the one who wrote his letters, but he was not there that day, and when he came and they told him what they had done, he responded, “You call Him the great God, yet you address Him last!” He ran after the messenger and brought him back. For that [act of] pursuit, he merited the kingship. This is how he “prepared his bread in the summer,” like the ant. (v. 26) The hyraxes are a people not strong This refers to Media and Persia. yet they make their home in the rock For they built the Temple. (v. 28) The spider grasps with its hands This refers to Esau, as it is stated (Gen. 27:22): “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” in a king’s palaces That he [Esau] entered the Temple of the King and destroyed it. (v. 30) The lion is the mightiest of the beasts This is Nebuchadnezzar, as it is stated (Jer. 4:7): The lion has come up from his thicket.” the one who girds his loins This refers to Media and Persia, who girded their loins and assassinated Belshazzar and seized the kingdom of Babylon. (v. 31) and the he-goat This refers to Greece, as it is stated (Dan. 8:21): “And the rough he-goat is the king of Greece.” and the king against whom no one dares to rise up This is Edom, who says, “I am it, and there is none besides me.” No one opposes him. אלקום, no one stands with him.

"Greyhound" (zarzir) — the name of an animal, in construct with the word "loins" (motnayim) — that is, "zarzir of the loins." It is mentioned because it is light on its feet and its gait is excellent, for in time of need it is able to overtake its prey. Another interpretation: bees. Another interpretation: an eagle. Or, the he-goat's gait is excellent in its walking, for the flock will not pass before it, and the matter is like male goats going before the flock. "No" (al) — it is not a term of entreaty. "Rising up" (kum) is a passive form, like "turned back" (sug, as in "sug lev"), meaning that there is no man able to rise up and fight with him; then his gait is excellent, for because of his righteousness no adversary rises against him.

"The greyhound" [zarzir motnayim, lit. "girded of loins"] — This is the hunting dog, which is narrow at the loins as if girded with a belt, and runs light and swift to hunt animals with great confidence, succeeding in its course. "The he-goat also" — He too is fine of stride, for he is swift of gait and goes at the head of the flock, as it says, "like he-goats before the flock" (Jeremiah 50:8); he is confident in his running and prevails over all. "And the king, against whom there is no rising up" — So too the fourth [creature] is fine of gait like these; he is a mighty king against whom none can stand in battle, for he walks with great confidence and succeeds in all he turns to. And [Scripture] teaches the lesson that one should not go to war with a faint heart and leave the matter to chance; rather, one should be girded with courage — then he will be confident and will succeed for the most part, just as these [creatures], because they find courage within themselves, go confidently and succeed.

"The greyhound" (zarzir) — that is to say, a "girded" one; for [the word "girdles" in] "and they made themselves girdles" (Genesis 3:7) is rendered by the Targum as "zerazin." "The he-goat" (tayish) — it is the male of the goats. "Alkum" — this word is composed of two [words]: "al kum" [no rising], that is to say, none can stand [against him]. "With him" (immo) — against him, as in "and there is none that can withstand You (imkha)" (II Chronicles 20:6).

The intellectual approach (31) 'The greyhound' (literally, 'girded of loins') — this is the one who runs like a gazelle with speed and alacrity to fulfill a positive commandment, overcoming the trait of laziness, as our Sages therefore said, "Be mighty as a lion, and run like a gazelle" (Avot 5:20). 'Or the he-goat' — this is the mastery of form over matter, for the form is called by the term 'male,' as opposed to the flock of ewes, which are the material, receptive faculties, and the male must go at the head. This is the trait of boldness of which they said, "Be bold as a leopard" (Avot 5:20) — that is, inner strength and boldness of face, namely the form ruling over the rest of the faculties. 'And a king against whom there is no rising up' — together with the form goes the king, who is the intellect and its faculties, which rules over the kingdom of the soul, so that none of the bodily faculties can rise up against it to dispute it or rebel against its reign (this is also why it alluded to "swift as an eagle" — to fly on the wings of the lofty intellect). Then it will fare well on the path of contemplation and the attainment of truths.

If you have been put to shame, you will be in your ascendency If you were put to shame through your speech, that you derided yourself, you will ultimately ascend in the matter. and if you thought evil in your heart to quarrel, put your hand onto your mouth and remain silent.

"If you have acted foolishly" — [compare] "against Ithiel, and I will consume a matter"; "and if you have devised [evil], put your hand to your mouth and do not speak." Another interpretation: "if you have acted foolishly" — the word is in the past tense in place of the future, and the meaning is: if you will act the fool, that is, if you commit an act of folly at the time when you are raised up to kingship. "Or if you have devised" — and you have thought to do something disgraceful, put a hand to your mouth and do not carry out the scheme. Another interpretation: "and if you have transgressed" — that you thought to raise yourself up before Him. "And if you have devised" — put a hand to your mouth. Another interpretation: "if you have acted foolishly" — reflect in your heart, when you exalt yourself, on the help of the Creator. "And if you have devised" — because of your wickedness, put a hand to your mouth.

"If you have done foolishly" — and grown weary of finding what you have been investigating: the cause of this is your pride, in that you relied on your wisdom to find it, and you did not first consider whether it was even possible for you to arrive at the truth of the matter. And if it was possible for you [to attain it], you did not first prepare what should have been prepared, so as to establish you in the truth of that inquiry. Or the intent of his saying "if you have done foolishly" may be "if you have fallen," for pride in wisdom is the cause of falling, as has happened [to you]. "And if you have planned [devices, put your] hand to your mouth" — meaning: if you thought to investigate one of the great questions, do not hasten to enter into this inquiry; restrain yourself from it until you have determined whether you have an opening through which to enter into this inquiry. He said "hand to mouth" by way of a parable: one who intends to speak should not be hasty, but should first determine whether those matters are fit [to be spoken] or not; rather, he should place his hand upon his mouth to restrain his mouth from speaking. Or he may mean by this: if you have thought something on account of which you will need to put your hand to your mouth — namely, the error that will befall you in [your] apprehension of Hashem, which will lead you to deny Him — the cause of this, too, was in [your] self-exaltation, for your pride caused you to enter into an inquiry you have no way of attaining, and this led you into the terrible error of denying Hashem. He said "hand to mouth" in the likeness of what Job said: "If I beheld the light when it shone, or the moon walking in splendor, and my heart was secretly enticed, and my hand touched my mouth [in homage]" (Job 31:26-27). This is because one who has fallen into error of this kind cannot bring his error out of his mouth, for the rest of the people who believe in Hashem would destroy him for it. According to this explanation, which we have now given, and which I consider correct, the intent of his saying "if you have done foolishly" is "if you have exalted yourself" — that is, if you have grown weary of finding what you should have found, this weariness came upon you because of your self-exaltation and your pride in wisdom; for because of this you relied on your wisdom and did not first prepare, regarding the matter under investigation, what should have been understood in order to direct you toward attaining it. Likewise, "if you have planned" and thought of something on account of which you will need to put your hand to your mouth so that people should not know the defect in your understanding — that you have denied God above — this too came upon you because of your self-exaltation in your wisdom, which led your heart astray into inquiries that there is no way to enter. Now, in some of the great inquiries a person will find an opening after much toil, while in others he will find no opening to enter at all. For this reason he directs us that a person should first determine, regarding the great inquiries, whether he has a way to enter into them. For just as you find among natural things that proceed through stages of residues that from some of them a person derives benefit while from others he derives nothing but harm, so the matter stands equally with these great apprehensions, which proceed — as one might suppose — at the level of superfluities to which the intellect ought not turn. For in some of them, after due consideration, one will find an opening and a way to enter, and after toil will attain very precious things through them; while in others, no opening at all will be found for entering them. And even more wondrous than this: there are great and very precious inquiries that are indeed attainable by a person, while other inquiries, lower than they, offer a person no opening to enter them at all. The example of this is that a person has no opening for attaining knowledge of the squaring of the circle — that is, how to make a square area equal to a given circular area — yet he can enter into inquiries far greater and more precious than this, beyond measure. This is among the things that obligate a person to deliberate carefully about the matters he investigates, as to whether he has an opening to attain them or not, in a way that will make it clear to him, discipline by discipline among the sciences under inquiry, which matters he is able to attain, as distinct from the inquiries in which this is not possible.

"If you have done foolishly" [nibbalta] — If you have become disgraced, meaning: if someone has insulted you, and by his speech made you into a disgraced fool (naval), nevertheless you should rise above it — meaning, do not respond to him with taunting and strife like one of the base fools, but rather guard the openings of your mouth, in the manner of men of stature. "Or if you have planned devices" [zammota] — If you are full of thoughts of provocation and strife, put your hand to your mouth to seal it firmly.

"In lifting up yourself" (be-hitnasse) — from the language of self-exaltation and loftiness. "Devices" (zemot) — an expression of scheming.

The plain approach 'If you have acted foolishly' — this refers to the king 'against whom there is no rising up' mentioned above: the servant who became king, he is the fool who is sated with bread. Did you become a fool through self-exaltation? Were you not a fool even before? And 'if you have plotted' — that you schemed to rebel against your master, and put your hand to your mouth to secretly devise evil — but know: The intellectual approach (32) 'If you have acted foolishly' — this refers back to 'Agur ... to Ithiel, to Ithiel and Ucal' (30:1): if you see that you have become foolish and turned away from the good path, this comes through self-exaltation — through exalting yourself to investigate matters too great and wondrous for you, as you did in your questions and investigations concerning the Account of Creation and the existence of the world. And 'if you have plotted' — if you delved deeply into these matters with profound thoughts — 'put a hand to the mouth,' and do not let your thoughts go forth from your lips outward.

For pressing milk For, just as butter will come out by pressing milk and blood by pressing the nose too much, so will strife come out of pressing the nostrils of anger. pressing Heb. מיץ, pressing, preindre in Old French, as in (Jud. 6:38): “and wrung (וימץ) dew, etc.” And our Sages explained (Ber. 63b): If you were put to shame because of the words of Torah, by seeking and asking your doubts of your mentor, even if you appear to him as a fool without intelligence, you will ultimately be exalted; ואם זמות, but if you placed a muzzle on your mouth and muzzled it, and you did not ask him anything, your end will be that when they ask you a matter of halachah, you will put your hand to your mouth and you will be dumb, for you will not know to reply anything about it. Just as pressing milk gives out butter, so will pressing anger that your mentor is wroth with you for not understanding readily and you were put to shame because of it, eventually bring out of your mouth after a time many (רבות) halachoth and instructions.

"Pressing" (mitz) — [this comes from] three roots: the first, "the extortioner is no more" (afes ha-metz); the second, "they drain and drink" (yimtzu ve-yishtu); and the third, "so that you may drain" (lema'an tamutzu). "And the churning of milk, and of the nose" — the meaning of "metz" here is one of these [three]: from them comes forth the thing that stands latent, ready to emerge through an action — such as butter, blood, and noses; and the nostrils are called "necharim" because it is seen through them. Its sense here is likewise "pressing" — even though his nose burns [with anger] at all times, it is as if the pressing squeezes it out and "brings forth strife," meaning that he quarrels with people. And the intent is: beware of vile acts (nevalot), for that drags along anger, and anger drags along strife.

"For the churning of milk" — Now, the natural things in which benefit is found in some of their residues, while in others none is found, are these that he mentioned, and things like them. That is: from the churning of milk, which is the residue of cheese, a person produces butter, which is better and more pleasant than the cheese; and from the wringing of the nose, by toiling to force it out, a person produces blood, and thereby harms himself; and from the forcing of anger, which ought to be abandoned and let go, a person produces strife and contention, which causes much destruction and loss. Here concludes the commentary on this section, which we set as the limit of our commentary in this book. It is exceedingly wondrous and of great benefit for acquiring the discipline of the intellect, and its benefit is made clear by our words in the commentary.

"For the churning" [mitz] — For just as the churning and pressing of milk brings forth butter, and the wringing of the nose brings forth blood, so the wringing of anger brings forth strife — meaning, the stirring up of anger brings about strife. Therefore, seal your mouth and do not arouse the anger of the one who disgraces you, for he will go on to quarrel further and speak base words against you.

"Mitz" [wringing/churning] — from the language of "metzitzah" (squeezing) and "sechitah" (wringing out), as in "and he wrung [va-yamotz] the dew from the fleece" (Judges 6:38). "Chem'ah" [curd] — this is the fat of milk. "Af" [nose] — the nostril. "Apayim" [wrath, lit. "nostrils"] — from the language of "af" (anger) and "cheimah" (fury).

The plain approach 'For the churning of milk' — that which is extracted from milk and rises to the top is butter, which is the good and choice part of the milk. But that which is squeezed from the nose — the mucus, a repulsive substance — brings forth blood: if one squeezes more, something even more repulsive comes out, namely blood. So too, 'the forcing of wrath' brings forth strife and rebellion and contention throughout the land. The intellectual approach (33) 'For the churning of milk brings forth butter' — meaning, that which is gathered from true wisdom, of which it is said, "Honey and milk are under your tongue" (Song of Songs 4:11), brings forth butter, that is, a clear and comprehensible matter. But 'the wringing of the nose brings forth blood' — if you press words of speculation and inquiry from a corrupt source and misleading proofs, they will produce corrupt syllogisms and corrupt conclusions. And 'the forcing of wrath' — if you become angry at Hashem's governance, such as questioning the tranquility of the wicked and the suffering of the righteous and the like, it will produce strife against Hashem, as it is written, "For wrath kills the foolish man" (Job 5:2).