Proverbs 30:2

Surely ¹  I am more brutish ²  than any other human being, ³  and I do not have human understanding; ⁴ 

Job 42:3-6; Ps 73:22; Ps 92:6; Pr 5:12; Isa 6:5; Jer 10:14; Ro 11:25; 1Co 3:18; 1Co 8:2; Jas 1:5; 2Pe 2:12-16

¹ tn The particle כִּי (ki) functions in an asseverative sense, “surely; indeed; truly” (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 73, §449).

² tn The noun בַּעַר (ba’ar) means “brutishness”; here it functions as a predicate adjective. It is followed by מֵאִישׁ (me’ish) expressing comparative degree: “more than a man” or “more than any man,” with “man” used in a generic sense. He is saying that he has fallen beneath the level of mankind. Cf. NRSV “I am too stupid to be human.”

³ tn Heb “than man.” The verse is using hyperbole; this individual feels as if he has no intelligence at all, that he is more brutish than any other human. Of course this is not true, or he would not be able to speculate on the God of the universe at all.

⁴ tn Heb “the understanding of a man,” with “man” used attributively here.