The Meaning of Proverbs 30:2 Explained

Proverbs 30:2

KJV: Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man.

YLT: For I am more brutish than any one, And have not the understanding of a man.

Darby: Truly I am more stupid than any one; and I have not a man's intelligence.

ASV: Surely I am more brutish than any man, And have not the understanding of a man;

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Surely I [am] more brutish  than [any] man,  and have not the understanding  of a man. 

What does Proverbs 30:2 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 30:2 mean?

surely more stupid I [am] than [any] man and not do have the understanding of a man to
כִּ֤י בַ֣עַר אָנֹכִ֣י מֵאִ֑ישׁ וְלֹֽא־ בִינַ֖ת אָדָ֣ם לִֽי

כִּ֤י  surely 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: כִּי 
Sense: that, for, because, when, as though, as, because that, but, then, certainly, except, surely, since.
בַ֣עַר  more  stupid 
Parse: Adjective, masculine singular
Root: בַּעַר  
Sense: brutishness, stupidity, brutish (person).
אָנֹכִ֣י  I  [am] 
Parse: Pronoun, first person common singular
Root: אָנׄכִי  
Sense: I (first pers.
מֵאִ֑ישׁ  than  [any]  man 
Parse: Preposition-m, Noun, masculine singular
Root: אִישׁ 
Sense: man.
וְלֹֽא־  and  not 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Adverb, Negative particle
Root: הֲלֹא 
Sense: not, no.
בִינַ֖ת  do  have  the  understanding 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular construct
Root: בִּינָה  
Sense: understanding, discernment.
אָדָ֣ם  of  a  man 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: אָדָם 
Sense: man, mankind.