Bird's-eye view
In these closing words of Agur, we are given a potent piece of practical wisdom that functions like a spiritual slap in the face. The kind you need when you are about to do something monumentally stupid. The passage addresses two related sins that spring from the same poisoned well of pride: arrogant self-exaltation and malicious scheming. The counsel is immediate and decisive: shut your mouth. Stop the sin before it goes any further. The reason for this urgency is then illustrated with three plain-as-day analogies that demonstrate an unbreakable law of God's world: cause and effect. Just as surely as churning milk makes butter and punching a nose makes it bleed, so pressing anger produces strife. This is not high-level theoretical physics; this is the observable reality of a world governed by a wise and just God. The fool ignores these connections, but the wise man sees the bloody nose coming and puts his hand over his mouth.
The core message is a call to radical self-awareness and immediate repentance. It is a warning against letting the foolishness of the heart manifest in the words of the mouth or the actions of the hands. Ultimately, it points us to our desperate need for a new heart, one that is not constantly lifting itself up or scheming evil. It pushes us toward the gospel, where the ultimate Foolishness of God in the cross shames the wisdom of proud men, and where the Prince of Peace absorbs all our strife-making anger in His own body.
Outline
- 1. The Command to Silence Sin (Prov 30:32)
- a. The Sin of Arrogant Folly (v. 32a)
- b. The Sin of Devising Evil (v. 32b)
- c. The Immediate Remedy: A Hand on the Mouth (v. 32c)
- 2. The Unavoidable Law of Consequences (Prov 30:33)
- a. A Benign Consequence: Churning Milk (v. 33a)
- b. A Violent Consequence: Wringing the Nose (v. 33b)
- c. A Destructive Consequence: Forcing Wrath (v. 33c)
Context In Proverbs
This passage comes at the end of the "words of Agur son of Jakeh" (Proverbs 30:1), a section of Proverbs distinct for its unique style and humility. Agur begins by confessing his own brutish ignorance before God, which sets a striking contrast to the pride he rebukes in verse 32. Having established his own lowliness, he is well-positioned to warn against the folly of self-exaltation. The proverbs in this chapter often use numerical patterns and observations from the natural world to teach wisdom. The final two verses serve as a capstone to his instruction, providing a stark and practical warning about the internal sins of pride and malice and their inevitable external consequences. It is a fitting conclusion that brings the reader back from observing ants and locusts to observing the state of his own heart.
Clause-by-Clause Commentary
v. 32 If you have been wickedly foolish in lifting yourself up,
The verse opens by identifying a particular brand of foolishness. It is not the simple ignorance of the naive, but a wicked foolishness. The wickedness is located in the action: "lifting yourself up." This is the primordial sin, the root of all others. It is the creature deciding he would rather be the Creator. It is Nebuchadnezzar puffing out his chest on the palace roof and saying, "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built?" Pride is not just an unfortunate character flaw; it is a declaration of war against God. To lift yourself up is to attempt to occupy the throne that belongs to Him alone. The Bible is clear about what happens to those who try this. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). This kind of foolishness is wicked because it is idolatry. You have made yourself the object of your own worship.
Or if you have schemed evil,
This is the second branch of the same corrupt tree. Pride that looks upward in self-exaltation also looks outward in malice. The heart that is full of itself has no room for genuine love of neighbor. Instead, it "schemes evil." This is not a momentary flash of temper, but a calculated, devised wickedness. It is the quiet plotting of revenge, the nursing of a grudge, the clever plan to undermine a rival. This is the sin of the heart that David confesses in the psalms. It is the sin of Joseph's brothers, who saw him from afar and conspired against him to kill him. This is the internal work of corruption before it ever breaks out into open strife. God sees the scheme long before the action, and He judges the heart. The thought of foolishness, the Bible tells us, is sin (Proverbs 24:9).
put your hand on your mouth.
The counsel is not to "think it over" or "manage your feelings." The counsel is immediate and physical. Clap your hand over your mouth. This is the emergency brake. Why the mouth? Because the mouth is the primary vent for the pride and malice of the heart. Jesus tells us that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks (Matthew 12:34). The proud man wants to boast. The scheming man wants to slander, or curse, or lie. Putting a hand on the mouth is a physical act of repentance. It is a confession that what is about to come out is poison, and it must be stopped. It is the recognition that you are in a sinful state and the first order of business is to cease and desist. Don't speak. Don't justify. Don't explain. Don't let the sin get any further than your own corrupt heart. This is Job's posture before God: "Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth" (Job 40:4).
v. 33 For pressing milk brings forth butter,
Now Agur gives the reason for his urgent command, and he does it with three analogies from everyday life. The first is neutral, even positive. If you churn milk, you get butter. This is a fixed process. A leads to B. The Hebrew word for "pressing" or "churning" is the same in all three clauses. It means to squeeze, to press, to apply force. Apply the right kind of pressure to milk, and you get a good and useful result. This is a principle of creation. God has built cause-and-effect into the very fabric of the world. Diligence leads to prosperity. Sowing leads to reaping. This is how the world works.
And pressing the nose brings forth blood;
The second analogy shifts from the dairy to the face. The same word, "pressing," is used. But here, the action is violent and the result is painful. If you wring someone's nose, or punch it, you get blood. You don't get butter. You don't get cheese. You get blood. Every time. This is just as certain as the first principle, but the outcome is destructive. The application is clear: some actions have bloody consequences. You cannot punch a man in the face and then act surprised when he bleeds and gets angry. The fool is the one who is constantly wringing noses and then wondering why his life is so full of bloody messes.
And pressing anger brings forth strife.
Here is the final analogy, and the point of the whole passage. Just as pressing milk yields butter, and pressing a nose yields blood, so pressing anger yields strife. The proud man who lifts himself up, the malicious man who schemes evil, is constantly "pressing" or "churning" his anger. He nurses it, he stokes it, he justifies it. And what is the inevitable result? Strife. Conflict. Fights. Broken relationships. Division in the church, in the home, in the workplace. You cannot continually agitate a man's anger, or your own, and expect peace to result. It is a law of the moral universe, as fixed as the laws of the physical universe. The man who is always in the middle of a fight is a man who is pressing anger. He is the problem. This proverb tells him to look in the mirror, see the churn in his hand, and connect it to the strife all around him. The only solution is to stop. Put your hand on your mouth. Confess the pride. Confess the evil scheme. And appeal to the God of peace, through the blood of Christ, which cleanses us from all sin and is the only true end to all strife.
Key Issues
- The Wickedness of Pride
- The Inevitability of Consequences
- The Government of the Tongue
- Anger, the Fuel of Strife
The Inevitability of Consequences
A central theme of Proverbs, and of all biblical wisdom literature, is that we live in a world of moral cause and effect. This is not karma, which is an impersonal, cosmic balancing of the scales. This is the personal, covenantal reality of a world governed by a righteous God. Actions have consequences because God is not mocked; whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap (Galatians 6:7).
Agur's three analogies in verse 33 are a brilliant, earthy illustration of this truth. Churning milk, wringing a nose, and forcing wrath are all actions with predictable outcomes. The fool is the man who lives as though this were not true. He thinks he can press a nose and get butter. He thinks he can press anger and get peace. He is living in a fantasy world, and reality will continue to bloody his nose until he repents.
The gospel does not abolish this principle; it fulfills it. On the cross, Jesus Christ reaped the consequences that we sowed. He took the full, bloody, strife-filled result of our pride and malice upon Himself. God pressed out His wrath against our sin upon His own Son, so that we who believe might be spared. But having been spared the ultimate consequence does not free us to live foolishly. Rather, it empowers us, through the Spirit, to live wisely. We are now free to sow to the Spirit, and of the Spirit reap everlasting life. We stop pressing anger because we have seen what the pressing of God's anger for sin actually accomplished.
Application
This passage is intensely practical. It gives us a diagnostic tool and a direct command. First, the diagnostic. Is your life full of strife? Are you constantly embroiled in conflict, arguments, and broken relationships? If so, this proverb tells you where to look. Look for the "pressing of anger." Are you lifting yourself up? Are you scheming evil? Are you nursing resentments? The strife is not just "happening" to you. It is the butter you have been churning.
Second, the command. When you see this folly in yourself, and you will, put your hand on your mouth. Immediately. This is the first step of repentance. Stop the flow of sinful words. Stop defending yourself. Stop explaining why your anger is justified. Just stop. This is a practical discipline that every Christian needs to cultivate. The world tells you to express yourself, to vent, to let it all out. The Bible tells you to shut up. Your unrighteous anger does not accomplish the righteousness of God (James 1:20).
The ultimate application is to run to Christ. Our hearts are factories of pride and evil schemes. We cannot fix this on our own. We need a new heart. We need the forgiveness that was purchased at the cross, where the wrath of God was fully pressed out on our behalf. And we need the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, who alone can turn a strife-maker into a peacemaker. When you feel the wicked foolishness rising in your heart, confess it to God, lay your hand on your mouth, and ask the Spirit to fill you with the humility and love of Christ.