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By Root 1300 0

traditional sayings and popular adages make up Proverbs. Grouped with the “Wisdom Books” of the Christian Old Testament, the proverbs consist of advice, commands, and admonitions on such themes as correct behavior, purity in mind and worship, avoidance of sin, and above all, the quest for wisdom.

The authors—and there were many spread out over a long period of time—wanted to highlight certain key, timeless virtues: honesty, hard work, trustworthiness, control of one’s temper and appetites—sexual and culinary—and maintaining the proper attitude toward wealth and poverty. Some of the sayings are simple observations, but moral values are exalted. There is no ambiguity in Proverbs over the contrast between the righteous and the wicked. Adultery and other sexual wanderings are most frequently condemned, and drunkenness also gets poor marks. In several chapters, a divinely created “Lady Wisdom” speaks, and she is contrasted with the “prostitute,” “strange woman,” or “Dame Folly” who leads young men astray. While most of the advice is written in classic couplet form, there are also some longer poems, including a final song extolling the virtues of the “ideal wife.”

These bits of good advice were traditionally attributed to King Solomon, famed for his great wisdom—although not necessarily for his great moral standards (see page 190). But the book actually consists of several collections of sayings that date from different periods and were composed, or compiled, by a number of anonymous authors, perhaps rabbis or sages who offered moral and religious instruction to young Jewish men. The book is typical of other “wisdom” writings of the Hebrew scriptures and also the ancient Near East, and thirty of the sayings are adapted from the moral instruction of an earlier Egyptian sage, Amenemope.

The Best of Proverbs

My son, if sinners entice you, do not yield. (1:10 JPS)

Hold on to resourcefulness and foresight.

They will give life to your spirit

And grace to your throat.

Then you will go your way safely

And not injure your feet.

When you lie down you will be unafraid;

You will lie down and your sleep will be sweet.

You will not fear sudden terror

Or the disaster that comes upon the wicked,

For the Lord will be your trust;

He will keep your feet from being caught. (3:21-26 JPS)

The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more

and more unto the perfect day. (4:18 KJV)

The lips of a forbidden woman drip honey;

Her mouth is smoother than oil:

But in the end she is as bitter as wormwood,

sharp as a two-edged sword. (5:3-4 JPS)

Here is a brief Proverbs version of the familiar fable “The Grasshopper and the Ant”:

Lazybones, go to the ant;

Study its ways and learn.

Without leaders, officers, or rulers,

It lays up its stores during the summer,

Gathers its food at the harvest.

How long will you lie there, lazybones;

when will you wake from your sleep?

A bit more sleep, a bit more slumber,

A bit more hugging yourself in bed,

And poverty will come calling upon you,

And want, like a man with a shield (6:6-11 JPS)

A sharp warning against the lure of adultery:

For a prostitute’s fee is only a loaf of bread,

but the wife of another stalks a man’s very life.

Can fire be carried in the bosom

without burning one’s clothes?

Or can one walk on hot coals without scorching the feet?

So is he who sleeps with his neighbor’s wife. (6:26-29 NRSV)

Hatred stirs up strife,

but love covers up all faults. (10:12 JPS)

Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout

is a beautiful woman without good sense. (11:22 NRSV)

He who trusts in his wealth shall fall,

but the righteous shall flourish like foliage. (11:28 JPS)

Those who trouble their households will inherit the wind,

and the fool will be servant to the wise. (11:29 NRSV)

The way of a fool is right in his own eyes,

But the wise man accepts advice. (12:15 JPS)

Hope deferred