Proverbs — Wisdom & Decision Atlas
The wisdom of Proverbs, mapped by decision.
Proverbs is a compiled collection of Israelite wisdom writing — eight collections, several named voices, and hundreds of sayings about money, speech, work, anger, family, justice and power.
- chapters
- 31chapters
- collections
- 8collections
- topics
- 28topics
- indexed sayings
- 127indexed sayings
- tensions
- 8tensions
What is Proverbs?
A collection of Israelite wisdom writing — mostly short sayings, plus longer instruction — about how to live skilfully: with money, words, work, anger, family, power and friendship.
▸Evidence(1)
The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;
Quoted from the public-domain translation committed for this locale.
What kind of book is it?
Wisdom literature, not law and not narrative. It observes how life tends to go and instructs accordingly, which is why its sayings behave differently from commands or promises.
How long is it?
31 chapters, 915 verses in the versification used here, arranged in eight collections marked mostly by the book's own headings.
Did Solomon write all of Proverbs?
No — and the book says so. Solomon is named at 1:1 and 10:1, but the text also credits 'the wise' (22:17, 24:23), the men of Hezekiah who copied material roughly two centuries later (25:1), Agur (30:1) and King Lemuel's mother (31:1).
▸Evidence(7)
The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;
The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.
Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge.
These things also belong to the wise. It is not good to have respect of persons in judgment.
These are also proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out.
The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, even the prophecy: the man spake unto Ithiel, even unto Ithiel and Ucal,
The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him.
Quoted from the public-domain translation committed for this locale.
What is 'wisdom' here?
Skill in living rather than accumulated information. The Hebrew word also covers craftsmanship — wisdom is competence applied to a life.
▸Evidence(3)
To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;
Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice?
Through wisdom is an house builded; and by understanding it is established:
Quoted from the public-domain translation committed for this locale.
What does 'the fear of the LORD' mean?
It is presented as the starting point of knowledge and wisdom rather than as terror. The precise force of the phrase — reverence, awe, allegiance — is debated.
▸Evidence(2)
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
Quoted from the public-domain translation committed for this locale.
Why do some sayings pull in different directions?
Because they are situational observations, not clauses in a code. 26:4 and 26:5 give opposite instructions in consecutive verses, which is the book teaching that knowing which saying applies is itself the skill.
▸Evidence(2)
Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.
Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.
Quoted from the public-domain translation committed for this locale.
Are proverbs promises?
Generally not. Most function as observations about how life tends to go or as instruction about how to live, and the book's own counter-sayings — the righteous poor, the prospering wicked, the field swept away for want of justice — block reading them as guarantees.
▸Evidence(3)
Much food is in the tillage of the poor: but there is that is destroyed for want of judgment.
Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues without right.
Better is the poor that walketh in his uprightness, than he that is perverse in his ways, though he be rich.
Quoted from the public-domain translation committed for this locale.
What are the collections?
Instruction and Lady Wisdom (1–9); Solomonic sayings (10:1–22:16); Words of the Wise (22:17–24:22); further words of the wise (24:23–34); sayings copied by Hezekiah's men (25–29); Agur (30); Lemuel (31:1–9); and the closing acrostic (31:10–31).
▸Evidence(7)
The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;
The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.
Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge.
These things also belong to the wise. It is not good to have respect of persons in judgment.
These are also proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out.
The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, even the prophecy: the man spake unto Ithiel, even unto Ithiel and Ucal,
The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him.
Quoted from the public-domain translation committed for this locale.
How should it be read?
By topic and in company. A single saying rarely gives the book's whole mind on anything; reading the counterbalancing sayings alongside it is what turns a slogan back into wisdom.