When it is said
Anyone may pray it, at any hour: when you want more than you have, or fear having too little.
In the Greek Old Testament, which the Orthodox Church reads, the prayer stands in Proverbs 24. Bibles made from the Hebrew have it at Proverbs 30:7-9.
Where it comes from
Author by tradition
Who was Agur?
In Bibles made from the Hebrew, chapter 30 of Proverbs opens “The words of Agur the son of Jakeh”. The Greek Old Testament gives no name at all. It calls the speaker only “the man” who speaks to those who trust in God.
The Holy Scriptures, Jewish Publication Society (1917), on Mechon Mamre; Brenton, The Septuagint Version of the Old Testament, on eBible.org
St Augustine’s advice
In AD 412 a rich widow named Proba asked St Augustine how to pray. He wrote back that it is not wrong to want enough of what life needs, and nothing beyond it. That, he said, is what this prayer asks: “Give me neither poverty nor riches.”
St Augustine, Letter 130, to Proba (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), on New Advent
What the words mean
“Enough”
The prayer asks for “what I need, and what is enough”. The Greek word for “enough” is the word Paul uses in his letter to the Philippians, where he writes that he has learned to be content, whatever his state. In that verse English Bibles translate it “content”.
The Greek Old Testament (Brenton’s edition), Proverbs 24:22n, on eBible.org; The Greek New Testament, Philippians 4:11, on eBible.org
“Who sees me?” or “Who is the LORD?”
This page follows the Greek Old Testament, the Bible of the Orthodox Church. The Hebrew, which most English Bibles follow, differs in places. Two stand out. The Hebrew asks God to “feed me with mine allotted bread”. And where the man with too much says “Who sees me?” in the Greek, in the Hebrew he says “Who is the LORD?”
The Holy Scriptures, Jewish Publication Society (1917), on Mechon Mamre
The Scripture in it
Two things I ask of You—do not refuse me before I die: Keep falsehood and deceitful words far from me. Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the bread that is my portion. Otherwise, I may have too much and deny You, saying, ‘Who is the LORD?’ Or I may become poor and steal, profaning the name of my God.
Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.
In Greek
Δύο αἰτοῦμαι παρὰ Σοῦ, μὴ ἀφέλῃς μου χάριν πρὸ τοῦ ἀποθανεῖν με.
Μάταιον λόγον καὶ ψευδῆ μακράν μου ποίησον, πλοῦτον δὲ καὶ πενίαν μή μοι δῷς, σύνταξον δέ μοι τὰ δέοντα καὶ τὰ αὐτάρκη·
Ἵνα μὴ πλησθεὶς ψευδὴς γένωμαι, καὶ εἴπω, τίς με ὁρᾷ; ἢ πενηθεὶς κλέψω, καὶ ὀμόσω τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Θεοῦ.
From the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint), Proverbs 24:22m-o, in Brenton’s edition, on eBible.org.