Proverbs 30:28
New International Version
a lizard can be caught with the hand, yet it is found in kings’ palaces.

New Living Translation
Lizards—they are easy to catch, but they are found even in kings’ palaces.

English Standard Version
the lizard you can take in your hands, yet it is in kings’ palaces.

Berean Standard Bible
and the lizard can be caught in one’s hands, yet it is found in the palaces of kings.

King James Bible
The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings' palaces.

New King James Version
The spider skillfully grasps with its hands, And it is in kings’ palaces.

New American Standard Bible
The lizard you may grasp with the hands, Yet it is in kings’ palaces.

NASB 1995
The lizard you may grasp with the hands, Yet it is in kings’ palaces.

NASB 1977
The lizard you may grasp with the hands, Yet it is in kings’ palaces.

Legacy Standard Bible
The lizard you may grasp with the hands, Yet it is in kings’ palaces.

Amplified Bible
You may grasp the lizard with your hands, Yet it is in kings’ palaces.

Christian Standard Bible
a lizard can be caught in your hands, yet it lives in kings’ palaces.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
a lizard can be caught in your hands, yet it lives in kings’ palaces.

American Standard Version
The lizard taketh hold with her hands, Yet is she in kings' palaces.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And the lizard that clings with its hands and dwells in Kings' houses.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And the eft, which supports itself by its hands, and is easily taken, dwells in the fortresses of kings.

Contemporary English Version
lizards, which can be caught in your hand, but sneak into palaces.

Douay-Rheims Bible
The stellio supporteth itself on hands, and dwelleth in kings' houses.

English Revised Version
The lizard taketh hold with her hands, yet is she in kings' palaces,

GOD'S WORD® Translation
A lizard you can hold in your hands, yet it can even be found in royal palaces.

Good News Translation
Lizards: you can hold one in your hand, but you can find them in palaces.

International Standard Version
Spiders can be caught by the hand, yet they're found in kings' palaces.

JPS Tanakh 1917
The spider thou canst take with the hands, Yet is she in kings' palaces.

Literal Standard Version
A spider with two hands takes hold, | And is in the palaces of a king.

Majority Standard Bible
and the lizard can be caught in one’s hands, yet it is found in the palaces of kings.

New American Bible
Lizards—you can catch them with your hands, yet they find their way into kings’ palaces.

NET Bible
a lizard you can catch with the hand, but it gets into the palaces of the king.

New Revised Standard Version
the lizard can be grasped in the hand, yet it is found in kings’ palaces.

New Heart English Bible
You can catch a lizard with your hands, yet it is in kings' palaces.

Webster's Bible Translation
The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in king's palaces.

World English Bible
You can catch a lizard with your hands, yet it is in kings’ palaces.

Young's Literal Translation
A spider with two hands taketh hold, And is in the palaces of a king.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Words of Agur
27the locusts have no king, yet they all advance in formation; 28and the lizard can be caught in one’s hands, yet it is found in the palaces of kings. 29There are three things that are stately in their stride, and four that are impressive in their walk:…

Cross References
Proverbs 30:27
the locusts have no king, yet they all advance in formation;

Proverbs 30:29
There are three things that are stately in their stride, and four that are impressive in their walk:


Treasury of Scripture

The spider takes hold with her hands, and is in kings' palaces.

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Catch Caught Found Grasp Hand Hands Hold Houses Kings King's Lizard Palaces Spider
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Catch Caught Found Grasp Hand Hands Hold Houses Kings King's Lizard Palaces Spider
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














(28) The spider taketh hold with her hands.--The lizard, rather than the spider, seems to be here intended. As each first line of these four verses is an expression of weakness, it has been proposed to translate thus: "The lizard thou canst catch with the hands, and yet," etc. (Comp. for this praise of wisdom, Ecclesiastes 9:14 sqq.)

Verse 28. - The spider taketh hold with her hands. Semamith or shemamith is some sort of lizard, probably the gecko. Καλαβώτης, Septuagint; stellio, Vulgate. The Authorized Version alludes either to its fanlike foot, which enables it to run up walls and to cling to ceilings, or to its power of exuding from its feet a certain poisonous humour by which it catches flies and other insects. But the above translation, as well as that of the Septuagint and the Vulgate manibus nititur, is incorrect, The first line, in accordance with the method pursued in the three cases previously, ought to give some expression denoting weakness or littleness, whereas by the above rendering it is rather strength and activity that are signified. The translation therefore should run, as in the Revised Version margin, "The lizard thou canst seize with thy hand," and yet it is in king's palaces. Small as it is, and easy to catch and crush, it is agile and clever enough to make its way into the very palace of the king, and to dwell there. Septuagint, "And the lizard, supporting itself by its hands, and being easy to catch (εὐάλωτος), dwelleth in kings' strongholds." This combines the two interpretations given above. St. Gregory takes the lizard as the type of the simple, earnest man, who often succeeds better than the clever. "Many that are quick-witted, while they grow slack from carelessness, continue in bad practices, and the simple folk, which have no wing of ability to stand them in stead, the excellency of their practice bears up to attain to the walls of the eternal kingdom. Whereas, then, 'the lizard climbeth with his hands,' he 'is in kings' palaces;' in that the plain man, by earnestness of right practice, reaches that point whereunto the man of ability never mounts" ('Moral.,' 6:12, Oxford transl.). The ancient expositors see in these verses a presentation of the Church of God, weak on its human side and despised by men, yet exceeding wise (1 Corinthians 1:27) - like the ant, laying up treasure in heaven, providing for death and eternity; like the coney, making the Rock her refuge; like the locusts, moving forward a mighty army in battle array; like the lizard, active in movement, holding the truth tenaciously, and dwelling in the palace of the great King.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
and the lizard
שְׂ֭מָמִית (mā·mîṯ)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 8079: (a kind of) lizard

can be caught
תְּתַפֵּ֑שׂ (tə·ṯap·pêś)
Verb - Piel - Imperfect - second person masculine singular
Strong's 8610: To manipulate, seize, chiefly to capture, wield, to overlay, to use unwarrantably

in one’s hands,
בְּיָדַ֣יִם (bə·yā·ḏa·yim)
Preposition-b | Noun - fd
Strong's 3027: A hand

yet it
וְ֝הִ֗יא (wə·hî)
Conjunctive waw | Pronoun - third person feminine singular
Strong's 1931: He, self, the same, this, that, as, are

[is found] in the palaces
בְּהֵ֣יכְלֵי (bə·hê·ḵə·lê)
Preposition-b | Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 1964: A large public building, palace, temple

of kings.
מֶֽלֶךְ׃ (me·leḵ)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 4428: A king


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OT Poetry: Proverbs 30:28 You can catch a lizard with your (Prov. Pro Pr)
Proverbs 30:27
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