Editing Book of Proverbs (section)

==Composition==
[[File:Dore Solomon Proverbs.png|thumb|Solomon writing Proverbs ([[Gustave Doré]])]]
It is impossible to offer precise dates for the sayings in Proverbs, a "collection of collections" relating to a pattern of life that lasted for more than a millennium.{{sfn|Clements|2003 |p= 438}} The title is traditionally derived from chapter 1:1, ''mishley Shelomoh'' ("Proverbs of Solomon"). This phrase is repeated in 10:1 and 25:1, indicating a focus on categorizing the content rather than attributing authorship.{{sfn|Farmer|1991|p=25}}

The book is an anthology made up of six discrete units. The ''Proverbs of Solomon'' section, chapters 1–9, was probably the last to be composed in the Persian or Hellenistic periods. This section has parallels to prior cuneiform writings.<ref>{{cite book |last= Rogers |first= Robert William |date= 1912 |title= Cuneiform parallels to the Old Testament |edition= 1 | chapter = 8. Fragment of Wisdom Literature | publisher= Eaton & Mains| place = New York | chapter-url= https://archive.org/details/cunciformparalle00roge |access-date= March 13, 2016}}</ref> The second, chapters 10–22:16, carries the superscription "the proverbs of Solomon", which may have encouraged its [[Development of the Hebrew Bible canon|inclusion]] in the Hebrew canon. The third unit, 22:17–24:22, is headed "bend your ear and hear the words of the wise". A large part of this section is a recasting of a second-millennium BCE Egyptian work, the ''[[Instruction of Amenemope]],'' and may have reached the Hebrew author(s) through an Aramaic translation.{{citation needed|date=December 2024}} Chapter 24:23 begins a new section and source with the declaration, "These too are from the wise". The next section, at chapter 25:1, has a superscription that the following proverbs were transcribed "by the men of [[Hezekiah]]", indicating at face value that they were collected in the reign of Hezekiah in the late 8th century BCE. Chapters 30 and 31 (the "words of Agur," the "words of [[Lemuel (biblical king)|Lemuel]]," and the description of the "ideal" woman and wife) are a set of appendices, quite different in style and emphasis from the previous chapters.{{sfn |Alter|2010|pp= 183–85}}

The [[Wisdom literature|”wisdom” genre]] was widespread throughout the [[ancient Near East]], and reading Proverbs alongside the examples recovered from Egypt and Mesopotamia reveals the common ground shared by international wisdom.{{sfn |Smothers|2000|pp= 167–68, 174}} The wisdom literature of Israel may have been developed in the family, the royal court, and houses of learning and instruction;{{sfn|Tucker|2000 |pp= 163–66}} nevertheless, the overwhelming impression is of instruction within the family in small villages.{{sfn |Crenshaw |2000 |p= 217}}