Proverbs 30:31
New International Version
a strutting rooster, a he-goat, and a king secure against revolt.

New Living Translation
the strutting rooster, the male goat, a king as he leads his army.

English Standard Version
the strutting rooster, the he-goat, and a king whose army is with him.

Berean Standard Bible
a strutting rooster; a he-goat; and a king with his army around him.

King James Bible
A greyhound; an he goat also; and a king, against whom there is no rising up.

New King James Version
A greyhound, A male goat also, And a king whose troops are with him.

New American Standard Bible
The strutting rooster or the male goat, And a king when his army is with him.

NASB 1995
The strutting rooster, the male goat also, And a king when his army is with him.

NASB 1977
The strutting cock, the male goat also, And a king when his army is with him.

Legacy Standard Bible
The strutting rooster, the male goat also, And a king when his army is with him.

Amplified Bible
The strutting rooster, the male goat also, And the king when his army is with him.

Christian Standard Bible
a strutting rooster; a goat; and a king at the head of his army.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
a strutting rooster, a goat, and a king at the head of his army.

American Standard Version
The greyhound; the he-goat also; And the king against whom there is no rising up.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And a rooster that struts among hens, and the hegoat that goes at the head of the flock, and the King that speaks among the peoples.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
and a cock walking in boldly among the hens, and the goat leading the herd; and a king publicly speaking before a nation.

Contemporary English Version
those proud roosters, those mountain goats, and those rulers who have no enemies.

Douay-Rheims Bible
A cock girded about the loins: and a ram: and a king, whom none can resist.

English Revised Version
The greyhound; the he-goat also; and the king, against whom there is no rising up.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
a strutting rooster, a male goat, a king at the head of his army.

Good News Translation
goats, strutting roosters, and kings in front of their people.

International Standard Version
The strutting rooster, as well as the goat, and a king with his army.

JPS Tanakh 1917
The greyhound; the he-goat also; And the king, against whom there is no rising up.

Literal Standard Version
A girt one of the loins, | Also a male goat, | And a king—troops with him.

Majority Standard Bible
a strutting rooster; a he-goat; and a king with his army around him.

New American Bible
The strutting cock, and the he-goat, and the king at the head of his people.

NET Bible
a strutting rooster, a male goat, and a king with his army around him.

New Revised Standard Version
the strutting rooster, the he-goat, and a king striding before his people.

New Heart English Bible
the greyhound, the male goat also; and the king against whom there is no rising up.

Webster's Bible Translation
A greyhound; a he-goat also; and a king, against whom there is no rising up.

World English Bible
the greyhound; the male goat; and the king against whom there is no rising up.

Young's Literal Translation
A girt one of the loins, or a he-goat, And a king -- no rising up with him.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Words of Agur
30a lion, mighty among beasts, refusing to retreat before anything; 31a strutting rooster; a he-goat; and a king with his army around him. 32If you have foolishly exalted yourself or if you have plotted evil, put your hand over your mouth.…

Cross References
Proverbs 30:30
a lion, mighty among beasts, refusing to retreat before anything;

Proverbs 30:32
If you have foolishly exalted yourself or if you have plotted evil, put your hand over your mouth.


Treasury of Scripture

A greyhound; an he goat also; and a king, against whom there is no rising up.

greyhound or horse

Proverbs 16:14
The wrath of a king is as messengers of death: but a wise man will pacify it.

Proverbs 20:2
The fear of a king is as the roaring of a lion: whoso provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own soul.

Daniel 3:15-18
Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands? …

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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














(31) A greyhound.--It is very doubtful what animal is meant here as being "girt [i.e., slender] in the loins." Several have been suggested, e.g., the horse, zebra, cock; but the rendering of the Authorised Version is as probable as any.

A king, against whom there is no rising up.--Who marches with resistless force, trampling on his conquered foes. (Comp. the description of the march of the Assyrians, Isaiah 37:24 sqq.; comp. also Isaiah 63:1 sqq. and Joel 2:2 sqq.) It has been proposed to translate these words also as "a king with whom is [i.e., followed by] his people," in much the same sense.

Verse 31. - A greyhound; זַרְזִיר מָתְנַיִם (zarzir mothnayim), "girt in the loins" (περιεσφιγμένος τὴν ὀσφόν, Symmachus), an expression very vague, and, as the name of an animal, occurring nowhere else in the Old Testament. In post-biblical Hebrew zarzir is found as the name of some pugnacious bird, and the Septuagint, Vulgate, and Syriac call it here the cock. So also Aquila and Theodotion. But if the word is onomatopoetic, it would seem to apply with more propriety to one of the raven tribe; and then what is to be made of the allusion to the loins? And how comes it that amid the quadrupeds in the gnome a bird should suddenly be introduced, as one stately in going? It seems certain that some quadruped is here meant, but what? What animal has as characteristic tight-girded loins or slender or active loins? There are, indeed, many that might be so designated, but none that, as far as we know, appropriated this unique appellation. Hence various opinions are held by commentators concerning the identification. The zebra, say some, with its stripes, which may be thus denoted; the war horse, say others, comparing Job 39:19, 25, and considering the trappings with which, as we see in ancient sculptures, he was adorned; others, again, fix upon the leopard as the beast intended. But that of the Authorized Version seems, on the whole, to be the most likely rendering, the slender, agile make of the greyhound having given cause for the appropriation of the term used in the text. Delitzsch compares the German word windspiel, which designates the greyhound without the necessity of using the full term, wiadspielhund. The only points which may be considered adverse to this view are these two, viz. the ill repute in which dogs were held by the Hebrews, Scripture consistently disparaging and despising them; and the fact that, as far as we have information, the Jews did not use dogs for hunting purposes, though nowadays the Arabs keep a kind of Persian greyhound for sporting, and Assyrian monuments have familiarized us with the appearance of hounds employed in the chase of the lion and the wild ox. Agur may be referring to what he has seen elsewhere, but what was well known to these for whom he wrote. Gesenius suggests (253), "a warrior girt in the loins," which is adopted by Wordsworth, and gives a suitable idea. This would correspond with the king in the last line; but the interpretation is quite arbitrary, and supported by no ancient authority, resting on the fact that girding the loins is always spoken of human beings. The cock strutting among his hens is, as we have hinted, the idea which approves itself to many ancient translators. Thus the Septuagint, ἀλέκτωρ ἐμπεριπατῶν θηλείαις εὔψυχος. We are not disposed to adept this identification, more especially as common poultry were unknown in Palestine till long after Solomon's time. Certainly what we call cocks and hens, or barn door fowls, are never mentioned in the Old Testament. and seem to have been introduced from Persia after the rise of the Persian empire. The latest editors decide for the war horse; but the conflicting claims cannot be reconciled, and the matter must be left undetermined. An he goat also. This is a very natural comparison, as the stately manner in which the he goat (tay-ish, "the butter") heads the flock has been always observed. The LXX. expresses this, paraphrasing, "and the he goat leading the herd." "Flocks of goats are very numerous in Palestine at this day, as they were in former ages. We see them everywhere on the mountains, in smaller or larger numbers; at times also along with sheep, as one flock, in which ease it is usually a he goat that is the special leader of the whole, walking before it as gravely as a sexton before the white flock of a church choir" (Geikie, 'Holy Land,' 1:232). A king, against whom there is no rising up; Vulgate, nec est rex qui resistat ei, which ought to mean "and a king whom nothing resists," but can scarcely be compelled to produce this meaning without violence. The difficulty in the sentence arises from the word אַלקוּם, which in the above rendering is regarded as composed of the negative al, and kum, the infinitive, "to rise against, oppose." But this is contrary to grammatical usage, and would be a solecism. To some it has seemed that a proper name was intended, and they have invented a King Alkum or Alkimos, whom they suppose to have been celebrated in or after Solomon's time. Many modern commentators take the word to be an Arabic expression, consisting of al, the definite article, and kum, "people," and consider the meaning to be "a king with whom is the people," i.e. surrounded by his people or army. This is certainly a stately sight, and may well stand parallel to the hero lion among beasts, and the bold he goat at the head of the flock. Other Arabic expressions may probably be found elsewhere in this chapter; e.g., vers. 15, 16, 17, aluka, etc. Septuagint, "a king haranguing before a nation (δημηγορῶν ἐν ἔθνει)." This passage, again, has been taken in a spiritual sense as referring to Christ, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Warrior girt with the sword, the Leader of the flock, the King of kings.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
a strutting rooster,
זַרְזִ֣יר (zar·zîr)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 2223: Tightly girt, a racer, some fleet animal

a he-goat,
תָ֑יִשׁ (ṯā·yiš)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 8495: A buck, he-goat

and a king
וּ֝מֶ֗לֶךְ (ū·me·leḵ)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 4428: A king

with his army
אַלְק֥וּם (’al·qūm)
Adverb
Strong's 510: A band of soldiers

around him.
עִמּֽוֹ׃ (‘im·mōw)
Preposition | third person masculine singular
Strong's 5973: With, equally with


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OT Poetry: Proverbs 30:31 The greyhound the male goat also (Prov. Pro Pr)
Proverbs 30:30
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