The Book of Proverbs
Proverbs 3:1–12
PROVERBS, BOOK OF. †The twentieth book of the
Old Testament according to the Christian canon and third of the
poetical books (
Job,
Psalms,
Proverbs) in the Hebrew canon included among the Writings. The
Book of Proverbs is a collection of largely proverbial
Wisdom Literature traditionally associated with Solomon, the Israelite king famed for his divine gift of wisdom (
1 Kgs. 3–4); the Hebrew title for the book (
Heb. mišlê;
Prov. 1:1) reflects this association. It is clear from literary analyses and internal evidence that the contents of the book must be attributed to a variety of authors over an extended period of time. At least three authors are named in headings (
Solomon, Pr. 1:1;
Pr. 10:1;
Pr. 25:1;
Agur,
Pr. 30:1;
Lemuel,
Pr. 31:1), and other segments are attributed anonymously to
“the wise” (
Pr. 22:17;
Pr. 24:23). The designation of the whole collection as
“proverbs” (
LXX Gk. Paroimiai; Vulg. Lat. Liber Proverbiorum) is not entirely apt since large portions of the contents (primarily the discourse material of
chs. Pr. 1–9) do not fit this description. Many scholars contend the present introductory verse (
Pr. 1:1) originally stood as the heading of the Solomonic proverbs at
Pr. 10:1–22:16, before
chs. Pr. 1–9 were placed in their present position, and was only later moved to serve as the title of the composite book.
Myers, Allen C.
The Eerdmans Bible dictionary 1987 : 855. Print.
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