The Meaning of Proverbs 30:3 Explained

Proverbs 30:3

KJV: I neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the holy.

YLT: Nor have I learned wisdom, Yet the knowledge of Holy Ones I know.

Darby: I have neither learned wisdom, nor have I the knowledge of the Holy.

ASV: And I have not learned wisdom, Neither have I the knowledge of the Holy One.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

I neither learned  wisdom,  nor have  the knowledge  of the holy. 

What does Proverbs 30:3 Mean?

Context Summary

Proverbs 30:1-17 - The Advice Of A Shrewd Observer
This chapter contains a collection of sayings of one person, Agur, of whom we know nothing further. It is supposed that he lived after the return from the Exile. The opening verses of the chapter may be thus rendered: "The utterance of the man who has questioned and thought." I have wearied after God, I have wearied after God, and am faint; for I am too stupid for a man, and am without reason, and I have not learned wisdom, nor have I knowledge of the All-Holy."
Agur answers his complaint in Proverbs 30:5-9. You cannot know God by your own discovery, but He will make Himself known to you through the written Word, to which no addition may be made, Proverbs 30:6. See also John 1:18, which shows our clearest revelation of Him. But there are two conditions: We must put away vanity and lies; and we must be satisfied with God's arrangement of our daily food. Notice the following quatrain, Proverbs 30:11-14, which is descriptive of four kinds of evil men: the unfilial, the self-righteous, the haughty, and the rapacious. The next quatrain, Proverbs 30:15-16, treats of "the insatiable;" and this is followed by a further description of the doom of the disobedient: strong, wise, shrewd, and sanctified sense. [source]

Chapter Summary: Proverbs 30

1  Agur's confession of his faith
7  The two points of his prayer
10  The meanest are not to be wronged
11  Four wicked generations
15  Four things insatiable
24  four things exceeding wise
29  Four things stately
32  Wrath is to be prevented

What do the individual words in Proverbs 30:3 mean?

And neither I learned wisdom nor knowledge of the Holy one have
וְלֹֽא־ לָמַ֥דְתִּי חָכְמָ֑ה וְדַ֖עַת קְדֹשִׁ֣ים אֵדָֽע

וְלֹֽא־  And  neither 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Adverb, Negative particle
Root: הֲלֹא 
Sense: not, no.
לָמַ֥דְתִּי  I  learned 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, first person common singular
Root: לָמַד  
Sense: to learn. teach, exercise in.
חָכְמָ֑ה  wisdom 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular
Root: חָכְמָה  
Sense: wisdom.
וְדַ֖עַת  nor  knowledge 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Noun, feminine singular construct
Root: דַּעַת 
Sense: knowledge.
קְדֹשִׁ֣ים  of  the  Holy  one 
Parse: Adjective, masculine plural
Root: קָדֹושׁ  
Sense: sacred, holy, Holy One, saint, set apart.