What does Proverbs 30:25 mean?

Ants are Agur's first example (Proverbs 30:24) of insignificant creatures which still accomplish great things. Ants demonstrate their "wisdom"—here meaning common sense or application of knowledge—by preparing for cold weather by storing food in the summer. This was used as a direct contrast to the foolishness of lazing around when one ought to be preparing fields for a harvest (Proverbs 6:6–11). Ants are relatively tiny; even a colony makes up less weight than a small person. Yet these creatures survive and provide for their young all the same.

Typically, an ant can lift as much as twenty times its own weight. A colony of ants can produce thousands of workers whose main job is to gather food for the next generation. Although they cannot "hear," in the same way as other animals, ants interpret vibrations they feel from the ground through their feet. Agur marveled at the wisdom of these industrious little creatures. This is part of a wider biblical theme: that God can accomplish great things using the meekest of instruments (1 Corinthians 1:27–28).