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Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? Or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.
– Proverbs 30:9

[V]erse 9 finishes Agur’s prayer. The prayer echoes the model prayer request for leading not into temptation (Matthew 6:13). Agur’s concern is for the dangers associated with being full or being poor. Fullness could lead to self-reliance and forgetting, or denying God. Israel was warned against this very reality (Deuteronomy 8:12-17). Such denial could manifest in forgetting God, Who is the Lord? Though not necessarily denying God’s existences outright, such a mindset relegates God to irrelevance in one’s life (Job 21:14-15; Psalm 10:4-11; 14:1).

The second danger comes with emptiness, lack, and want. It seems the biblical evidence would point to prosperity as the greater danger (Matthew 19:23), but severe poverty also presents temptation. A loss of faith, and patience coupled with a hungry belly could prompt him to steal. Such an act would give opportunity for mockers to blaspheme the God he professed (2 Samuel 12:14).