Commentary
on the
OLD TESTAMENT
by
C. F. KEIL and F. DELITZSCH
Translated from the German by James Martin
Proverbs
by F. DELITZSCH
Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1872
Volume 1 of 2
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE
THE volume which is here presented to English readers
is the first of three which will contain the Solomonic
writings. They form the last section of the "Keil and
Delitzsch" series of Commentaries on the Books of the
Old Testament Scriptures. The remaining volume on the Pro-
verbs, as well as that on Ecclesiastes and the Canticles, which
has also been prepared by Delitzsch, and is now in course of
publication in Germany, will be issued with as little delay as
possible.
In this translation I have endeavoured accurately to reproduce
the original, so as to bring the student as much as possible into
direct contact with the learned commentator himself. Any ex-
planatory notes or words I have thought it right to add are enclosed
in square brackets [ ], so as to be easily distinguishable. The
Arabic and Syriac words occurring in the original have been, with
very few exceptions, printed in English characters. In their
vocalization I have followed the system of Forbes in his Arabic
Grammar, so that the student will be readily able to restore the
original. When nothing depends on the inflection of these words,
the consonants only are printed.
It might appear superfluous in me to speak in commendation of
the great work which is now drawing to a close; but a translator,
since he has necessarily been in close fellowship with the author,
may be expected to be in a position to offer an opinion on the
character of the work on which he has been engaged; and I am
sure that all my collaborateurs will concur with me in speaking of
the volumes which form this commentary as monuments of deep
vii
viii TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
and careful research into the meaning of the sacred Scriptures.
Whether or not we can in all cases accept the conclusions reached
by the respected authors, no one can fail to see how elaborate and
minute the investigation has been. These volumes are the ripest
fruits of life-long study of the Old Testament. Their authors are
exegetes who have won for themselves an honoured place in the
foremost rank for their profound acquaintance with the Hebrew
and its cognate languages. With a scholarship of rare compass
and accuracy, they combine a reverent sympathy with the sacred
Scriptures, and a believing appreciation of its saving truths.
The satisfaction I have had in the study of this work, and in
spending so many of my leisure hours in rendering it into English,
is greatly heightened by the reflection, that I have been enabled in
this way to contribute to the number of exegetical works within
reach of the English student. The exegetical study of God's word,
which appears to be increasingly drawing the attention of theo-
logians, and which has been so greatly stimulated by the Transla-
tions issued by the publishers of this work, cannot fail to have the
most beneficial results. The minister of the gospel will find such
study his best and truest preparation for his weighty duties as an
expounder of Scripture, if prosecuted in the spirit of a devout
recognition of the truth, that "bene orasse est bene studuisse."
Thus is he led step by step into a thorough and full understanding
of the words and varying forms of expression used by those "holy
men of old, who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."
AUTHOR'S PREFACE
THE preparation of this Commentary on the Mishle,
which was begun in 1869 (not without previous pre-
paration), and twice interrupted by providential events,
extended into the winter of 1872. There is now want-
ing to the completion of the Commentary on the Old Testament,
undertaken by Dr. Keil and myself, only the Commentary on the
Canticles and Ecclesiastes, which will form the concluding volume.
In the preparation of this Commentary on the Proverbs, I am
indebted in varied ways to my friends Fleischer and Wetzstein.
In the year 1836, Fleischer entered on his duties as Professor at
Leipzig by delivering a course of lectures on the Book of the
Proverbs of Solomon. I was one of his hearers, and am now so
fortunate as to be able from his own MS. (begun 13th May, com-
pleted 9th September 1836) to introduce this beloved teacher into
the number of interpreters of the Book of Proverbs. The assist-
ance contributed by Wetzstein begins at chapter xxx., and consists
in remarks on Mühlau's work on the Proverbs of Agur and Lemuel
(1869), which my Dorpat friend placed at my disposal.
The exegetical apparatus has in the course of this work extended
far beyond the list given at pp. 50, 51. I obtained the Commentary
of the Caraite Ahron b. Joseph (1294), which was printed at
Koslow (Eupatoria) in 1835, and had lent to me from the library
of Dr. Hermann Lotze the Commentary by the Roman poet
Immanuel [born at Rome about 1265], who was intimately asso-
ciated with Dante, printed at Naples in 1487, and equal in value
to a MS. Among the interpreters comprehended in the Biblia
Rabbinica, I made use also of the Commentary of the Spanish
ix
x AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
Menachem b. Salomo Meîri (1447), which first appeared in the
Amsterdam Bibelwerk, and came under my notice in a more handy
edition (Furth, 1844) from the library of my dear friend and
companion in study, Baer. To him I owe, among many other
things, the comparison of several MSS., particularly of one brought
from Arabia by Jacob Sappir, which has come into his possession.
In making use of the Graecus Venetus, I was not confined
to Villoison's edition (1784). The only existing MS. (found in
Venice) of this translation one of my young friends, von Gebhardt,
has compared with the greatest care with Villoison's printed edition,
in which he has found many false readings and many omissions.
We have to expect from him a critical, complete edition of this
singular translation, which, both as regards the knowledge its
author displays of the Hebrew language and his skill in the Greek
language, remains as yet an unsolved mystery.
The Indexl (to the words etymologically explained in this Com-
mentary) has been prepared by Dr. Hermann Strack, who, by his
recently-published Prolegomena ad Vetus Testament Hebraicum,
has shown himself to be a Hebraist of rare attainments.
Bacon, in his work De Augmentis Scientiarum (viii. 2), rightly
speaks2 of Solomon's proverbs as an unparalleled collection. May
it be granted me, by the help of God, to promote in some degree
the understanding of this incomparable Book, as to its history, its
language, and its practical lessons!
LEIPZIG, 30th October 1872.
1 Will be given with vol. ii.
2 [In hoc genere autem nihil invenitur, quod ullo modo comparandum sit
cum aphorismis illis, quos edidit rex Salomon; de quo testatur Scriptura cor
illi fuisse instar arenae maris: sicut enim arenae maris universas orbis oras cir-
cumdant, ita et sapientia ejus omnia humana, non minus quam divina, complexa
est. In aphorismis vero illis, praeter alia majis theologica, reperies liquido
hand pauca praecepta et monita civilia praestantissima, ex profundis quldem
sapientiae penetralibus scaturientia, atque in amplissimum varietatis campum
excurrentia.]
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION.
PAGE
1. PLAN OF THE BOOK, AND ITS ORIGIN, 2
2. THE SEVERAL PARTS OF THE BOOK, AND MANIFOLD
FORMS OF THE PROVERBS, 6
Distichs, 7
Tetrastichs, Hexatichs, Octostichs, 10
Pentastichs, Heptastichs, 11
The Fifteen Mashal-strains of the First Part of the Book, 12
The Midda, Priamel, 13
The Second Part of the Collection, 15
The "Words of the Wise," 16
The "Hezekiah-Collection," 17
Appendices to the Second Collection, 18
Ewald's View regarding the Parts of the Book, 20
3. THE REPETITIONS IN THE BOOK OF PROVERBS, 24
The Time at which the First Collection was made, 27
4. THE MANIFOLDNESS OF THE STYLE AND FORM OF
INSTRUCTION IN THE BOOK, 31
Relation of the Introduction to the First Collection, 33
Style of the Supplements, xxii 17-xxiv. 22 and xxiv. 23 ff., 35
The Supplements to the Hezekiah-Collection, 36
Names given to the whole Book, 36
Jewish Literature in the Age of Solomon, 38
The Chokma, 41
5. THE ALEXANDRIAN TRANSLATION OF THE BOOK, 46
Literature of the Interpretation of the Book, 50
xi
xii CONTENTS.
THE OLDER BOOK OF PROVERBS, I.—XXIV.
PAGE
The External Title of the Book, i. 1-6, 52
Motto of the Book, i. 7, 58
FIRST INTRODUCTORY MASHAL DISCOURSE, i. 8-19, 59
SECOND “ “ i. 20:ff., 67
THIRD “ “ ii., 75
FOURTH “ “ iii. 1-18, 85
FIFTH “ “ iii. 19-26, 91
SIXTH “ “ iii. 27-35, 98
SEVENTH “ “ iv.-v. 6, 105
EIGHTH “ “ v. 7-23, 122
NINTH “ “ vi. 1-5, 134
TENTH “ “ vi. 6-11, 139
ELEVENTH “ “ vi. 12-19, 142
TWELFTH “ “ vi. 20 ff., 149
THIRTEENTH “ “ vii., 156
FOURTEENTH “ “ viii., 172
FIFTEENTH “ “ ix., 195
FIRST COLLECTION OF SOLOMONIC PROVERBS, x.-xxii. 16, 207
CHAPTER xi., 229
CHAPTER xii., 250
CHAPTER xiii., 270
CHAPTER xiv., 288
CHAPTER xv., 315
CHAPTER xvi., 334
CHAPTER xvii., 352
THE BOOK OF PROVERBS
INTRODUCTION.
THE Book of Proverbs bears the external title ylew;mi rp,se,
which it derives from the words with which it com-
mences. It is one of the three books which are dis-
tinguished from the other twenty-one by a peculiar
system of accentuation, the best exposition of which that has yet
been given is that by S. Baer,1 as set forth in my larger Psalmen-
commentar.2 The memorial word for these three books, viz. Job,
Mishle (Proverbs), and Tehillim (Psalms), is tmX, formed from
the first letter of the first word of each book, or, following the
Talmudic and Masoretic arrangement of the books, Mxt.
Having in view the superscription hmolow; ylew;mi, with which the
book commences, the ancients regarded it as wholly the composi-
tion of Solomon. The circumstance that it contains only 800
verses, while according to 1 Kings v. 12 (iv. 32) Solomon spake
3000 proverbs, R. Samuel bar-Nachmani explains by remarking
that each separate verse may be divided into two or three allegories
or apothegms (e.g. xxv. 12), not to mention other more arbi-
trary modes of reconciling the discrepancy.3 The opinion also of
R. Jonathan, that Solomon first composed the Canticles, then the
Proverbs, and last of all Ecclesiastes, inasmuch as the first cor-
responds4 with the spring-time of youth, the second with the wis-
1 Cf. Outlines of Hebrew Accentuation, Prose and Poetical, by Rev. A. B.
Davidson, D.D., Professor of Hebrew, Free Church College, Edinburgh, 1861,
based on Baer's Torath Emeth, Rödelheim 1872.
2 VOL ii., ed. of 1860, pp. 477-511.
3 Pesikta, ed. Buber (1868), 34b, 35a. Instead of 800, the Masora reckons
915 verses in the Book of Proverbs.
4 Schir-ha-Schirim Rabba, c. i. f. 4a.
2 THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.
dom of manhood, and the third with the disappointment of old
age, is founded on the supposition of the unity of the book and
of its Solomonic authorship.
At the present day also there are some, such as Stier, who
regard the Book of Proverbs from first to last as the work of
Solomon, just as Klauss (1832) and Randegger (1841) have ven-
tured to affirm that all the Psalms without exception were com-
posed by David. But since historical criticism has been applied
to Biblical subjects, that blind submission to mistaken tradition
appears as scarcely worthy of being mentioned. The Book of
Proverbs presents itself as composed of various parts, different
from each other in character and in the period to which they
belong. Under the hands of the critical analysis it resolves itself
into a mixed market of the most manifold intellectual productions
of proverbial poetry, belonging to at least three different epochs.
1. The external plan of the Book of Proverbs, and its own testi-
mony as to its origin.—The internal superscription of the book, which
recommends it, after the manner of later Oriental books, on account
of its importance and the general utility of its contents, extends
from ver. 1 to ver. 6. Among the moderns this has been acknow-
ledged by Löwenstein and Maurer; for ver. 7, which Ewald,
Bertheau, and Keil have added to it, forms a new commencement
to the beginning of the book itself. The book is described as
"The Proverbs of Solomon," and then there is annexed the state-
ment of its object. That object, as summarily set forth in ver. 2,
is practical, and that in a twofold way: partly moral, and partly
intellectual. The former is described in vers. 3-5. It presents
moral edification, moral sentiments for acceptance, not merely to
help the unwise to attain to wisdom, but also to assist the wise.
The latter object is set forth in ver. 6. It seeks by its contents
to strengthen and discipline the mind to the understanding of
thoughtful discourses generally. In other words, it seeks to gain
the moral ends which proverbial poetry aims at, and at the same
time to make familiar with it, so that the reader, in these
proverbs of Solomon or by means of them as of a key, learns to
understand such like apothegms in general. Thus interpreted, the
title of the book does not say that the book contains proverbs of
other wise men besides those of Solomon; if it did so, it would
contradict itself. It is possible that the book contains proverbs
INTRODUCTION. 3
other than those of Solomon, possible that the author of the title
of the book added such to it himself, but the title presents to
view only the Proverbs of Solomon. If i. 7 begins the book, then
after reading the title we cannot think otherwise than that here
begin the Solomonic proverbs. If we read farther, the contents
and the form of the discourses which follow do not contradict this
opinion; for both are worthy of Solomon. So much the more
astonished are we, therefore, when at x. 1 we meet with a new
superscription, hmolow; ylew;mi, from which point on to xxii. 16 there is
a long succession of proverbs of quite a different tone and form—
short maxims, Mashals proper—while in the preceding section of
the book we find fewer proverbs than monitory discourses. What
now must be our opinion when we look back from this second
superscription to the part i. 7-ix., which immediately follows the
title of the book? Are i. 7-ix., in the sense of the book, not the
"Proverbs of Solomon"? From the title of the book, which
declares them to be so, we must judge that they are. Or are they
"Proverbs of Solomon"? In this case the new superscription (x.1),
"The Proverbs of Solomon," appears altogether incomprehensible.
And yet only one of these two things is possible: on the one side,
therefore, there must be a false appearance of contradiction, which
on a closer investigation disappears. But on which side is it? If
it is supposed that the tenor of the title, i. 1-6, does not accord
with that of the section x. 1-xxii. 6; but that it accords well with
that of i. 7-ix. (with the breadth of expression in i. 7-ix., it has also
several favourite words not elsewhere occurring in the Book of
Proverbs; among these, hmAr;fA, subtilty, and hm.Azim;, discretion, i. 4),
then Ewald's view is probable, that i.-ix. is an original whole written
at once, and that the author had no other intention than to give it
as an introduction to the larger Solomonic Book of Proverbs be-
ginning at x. 1. But it is also possible that the author of the title
has adopted the style of the section i. 7-ix. Bertheau, who has
propounded this view, and at the same time has rejected, in oppo-
sition to Ewald, the idea of the unity of the section, adopts this
conclusion, that in i. 8-ix. there lies before us a collection of the
admonitions of different authors of proverbial poetry, partly original
introductions to larger collections of proverbs, which the author
of the title gathers together in order that he may give a compre-
hensive introduction to the larger collection contained in x. 1-xxii.
16. But such an origin of the section as Bertheau thus imagines
4 THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.
is by no means natural; it is more probable that the author, whose
object is, according to the title of the book, to give the proverbs of
Solomon, introduces these by a long introduction of his own, than
that, instead of beginning with Solomon's proverbs, he first pre-
sents long extracts of a different kind from collections of proverbs.
If the author, as Bertheau thinks, expresses indeed, in the words
of the title, the intention of presenting, along, with the "Proverbs
of Solomon," also the "words of the wise," then he could not have
set about his work more incorrectly and self-contradictorily than if
he had begun the whole, which bears the superscription "Proverbs
of Solomon" (which must be regarded as presenting the proverbs
of Solomon as a key to the words of the wise generally), with
the "words of the wise." But besides the opinion of Ewald, which
in itself, apart from internal grounds, is more natural and probable
than that of Bertheau, there is yet the possibility of another. Keil,
following H. A. Hahn, is of opinion, that in the sense of the author
of the title, the section i.—ix. is Solomonic as well as x.-xxii., but that
he has repeated the superscription "Proverbs of Solomon" before
the latter section, because from that point onward proverbs follow
which bear in a special measure the characters of the Mashal
(Hävernick's Einl. iii. 428). The same phenomenon appears in
the book of Isaiah, where, after the general title, there follows an
introductory address, and then in ii. 1 the general title is repeated
in a shorter form. That this analogy, however, is here inappli-
cable, the further discussion of the subject will show.
The introductory section i. 7-ix., and the larger section x.-xxii.
16, which contains uniform brief Solomonic apothegms, are fol-
lowed by a third section, xxii. 17-xxiv. 22. Hitzig, indeed, reckons
x-xxiv. 22 as the second section, but with xxii. 17 there com-
mences an altogether different style, and a much freer manner in
the form of the proverb; and the introduction to this new collec-
tion of proverbs, which reminds us of the general title, places it
beyond a doubt that the collector does not at all intend to set forth
these proverbs as Solomonic. It may indeed be possible that, as
Keil (iii. 410) maintains, the collector, inasmuch as he begins with
the words, "Incline thine ear and hear words of the wise," names
his own proverbs generally as "words of the wise," especially since
he adds, "and apply thine heart to my knowledge;" but this sup-
position is contradicted by the superscription of a fourth section,
xxiv. 23 ff.) which follows. This short section, an appendix to the
INTRODUCTION. 5
third, bears the superscription, "These things also are MymikAHEla."
If Keil thinks here also to set aside the idea that the following
proverbs, in the sense of this superscription, have as their authors
"the wise," he does unnecessary violence to himself. The l is
here that of authorship; and if the following proverbs are com-
posed by the MymikAHE, "the wise," then they are not the production
of the one MkAHA, "wise man," Solomon, but they are "the words
of the wise" in contradistinction to "the Proverbs of Solomon."
The Proverbs of Solomon begin again at xxv. 1; and this
second large section (corresponding to the first, x. 1-xxii. 16)
extends to xxix. This fifth portion of the book has a superscrip-
tion, which, like that of the preceding appendix, commences
thus: "Also (MGa) these are proverbs of Solomon which the men of
Hezekiah king of Judah collected." The meaning of the word
UqyTif;h, is not doubtful. It signifies, like the Arameo-Arabic hsn,
to remove from their place, and denotes that the men of Hezekiah
removed from the place where they found them the following
proverbs, and placed them together in a separate collection. The
words have thus been understood by the Greek translator. From
the supplementary words ai[ a]dia<kritoi (such as exclude all dia<krisij)
it is seen that the translator had a feeling of the important literary
historical significance of that superscription, which reminds us of the
labours of the poetical grammarians appointed by Pisistratus to edit
older works, such as those of Hesiod. The Jewish interpreters, simply
following the Talmud, suppose that the "also" (MGa) belongs to the
whole superscription, inclusive of the relative sentence, and that it
thus bears witness to the editing of the foregoing proverbs also by
Hezekiah and his companions;1 which is altogether improbable, for
then, if such were the meaning of the words, "which the men of
Hezekiah," etc., they ought to have stood after i. 1. The super-
scription xxv. 1 thus much rather distinguishes the following collec-
tion from that going before, as having been made under Hezekiah.
As two appendices followed the "Proverbs of Solomon," x. 1—xxii.
16, so also two appendices the Hezekiah-gleanings of Solomonic
proverbs. The former two appendices, however, originate in gene-
ral from the "wise," the latter more definitely name the authors:
the first, xxx., is by "Agur the son of Jakeh;" the second, xxxi.
1 Vid. B. Bathra, 15a. From the fact that Isaiah outlived Hezekiah it is there
concluded that the Hezekiah-collegium also continued after Hezekiah's death.
Cf. Fürst on the Canon of the 0. T. 1868, p. 78 f.
6 THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.
1-9, by a "King Lemuel." In so far the superscriptions are clear.
The names of the authors, elsewhere unknown, point to a foreign
country; and to this corresponds the peculiar complexion of these
two series of proverbs. As a third appendix to the Hezekiah-col-
lection, xxxi. 10 ff. follows, a complete alphabetical proverbial poem
which describes the praiseworthy qualities of a virtuous woman.
We are thus led to the conclusion that the Book of Proverbs
divides itself into the following parts:—(1) The title of the book,
i. 1-6, by which the question is raised, how far the book extends
to which it originally belongs ; (2) the hortatory discourses, i. 7-ix.,
in which it is a question whether the Solomonic proverbs must be
regarded as beginning with these, or, whether they are only the
introduction thereto, composed by a different author, perhaps the
author of the title of the book; (3) the first great collection of
Solomonic proverbs, x.-xxii. 16; (4) the first appendix to this
first collection, "The words of the wise," xxii. 17-xxiv. 22; (5)
the second appendix, supplement of the words of some wise men,
xxiv. 23 ff.; (6) the second great collection of Solomonic proverbs,
which the "men of Hezekiah" collected, xxv.-xxix.; (7) the first
appendix to this second collection, the words of Agur the son
of Jakeh, xxx.; (8) the second appendix, the words of King
Lemuel, xxxi. 1-9; (9) third appendix, the acrostic ode, xxxi.
10 ff. These nine parts are comprehended under three groups:
the introductory hortatory discourses with the general title at their
head, and the two great collections of Solomonic proverbs with
their two appendices. In prosecuting our further investigations,
we shall consider the several parts of the book first from the point
of view of the manifold forms of their proverbs, then of their
style, and thirdly of their type of doctrine. From each of these
three subjects of investigation we may expect elucidations regarding
the origin of these proverbs and of their collections.
2. The several parts of the Book of Proverbs with respect to the
manifold forms of the proverbs.—If the Book of Proverbs were a
collection of popular sayings, we should find in it a multitude of
proverbs of one line each, as e.g., "Wickedness proceedeth from
the wicked" (1 Sam. xxiv. 13); but we seek for such in vain. At
the first glance, xxiv. 23b appears to be a proverb of one line; but
the line “To have respect of persons in judgment is not good,”
is only the introductory line of a proverb which consists of several
INTRODUCTION. 7
lines ver. 24 f. Ewald is right in regarding as inadmissible a
comparison of the collections of Arabic proverbs by Abu-Obeida,
Meidani, and others, who gathered together and expounded the
current popular proverbs, with the Book of Proverbs. Ali's Hun-
dred Proverbs are, however, more worthy of being compared with
it. Like these, Solomon's proverbs are, as a whole, the production
of his own spirit, and only mediately of the popular spirit. To
make the largeness of the number of these proverbs a matter of
doubt were inconsiderate. Eichhorn maintained that even a god-
like genius scarcely attains to so great a number of pointed
proverbs and ingenious thoughts. But if we distribute Solomon's
proverbs over his forty years' reign, then we have scarcely twenty
for each year; and one must agree with the conclusion, that the
composition of so many proverbs even of the highest ingenuity is
no impossible problem for a "godlike genius." When, accordingly,
it is related that Solomon wrote 3000 proverbs, Ewald, in his
History of Israel, does not find the number too great, and Bertheau
does not regard it as impossible that the collection of the "Proverbs
of Solomon" has the one man Solomon as their author. The
number of the proverbs thus cannot determine us to regard them
as having for the most part originated among the people, and the
form in which they appear leads to an opposite conclusion. It is,
indeed, probable that popular proverbs are partly wrought into
these proverbs,1 and many of their forms of expression are moulded
after the popular proverbs; but as they thus lie before us, they are,
as a whole, the production of the technical Mashal poetry.
The simplest form is, according to the fundamental peculiarity
of the Hebrew verse, the distich. The relation of the two lines to
each other is very manifold. The second line may repeat the
thought of the first, only in a somewhat altered form, in order to
express this thought as clearly and exhaustively as possible. We
call such proverbs synonymous distichs; as e.g. xi. 25:
A soul of blessing is made fat,
And he that watereth others is himself watered.
Or the second line contains the other side of the contrast to the
statement of the first; the truth spoken in the first is explained in
the second by means of the presentation of its contrary. We call
such proverbs antithetic distichs; as e.g. x. 1:
1Isaac Euchel († 1804), in his Commentary on the Proverbs, regards xiv. 4a
and xvii. 19b as such popular proverbs.
8 THE BOOK OF PROVERBS
A wise son maketh his father glad,
And a foolish son is his mother's grief.
Similar forms, x. 16, xii. 5. Elsewhere, as xviii. 14, xx. 24, the
antithesis clothes itself in the form of a question. Sometimes it is
two different truths that are expressed in the two lines; and the
authorization of their union lies only in a certain relationship, and
the ground of this union in the circumstance that two lines are the
minimum of the technical proverb—synthetic distichs; e.g. x. 18:
A cloak of hatred are lying lips,
And he that spreadeth slander is a fool.
Not at all infrequently one line does not suffice to bring out the
thought intended, the begun expression of which is only com-
pleted in the second. These we call integral (eingedankige) distichs;
as e.g. xi. 31 (cf. 1 Pet. iv. 18):
The righteous shall be recompensed on the earth—
How much more the ungodly and the sinner!
To these distichs also belong all those in which the thought
stated in the first receives in the second, by a sentence presenting a
reason, or proof, or purpose, or consequence, a definition completing
or perfecting it; e.g. xiii. 14, xvi. 10, xix. 20, xxii. 28.1 But there is
also a fifth form, which corresponds most to the original character
of the Mashal: the proverb explaining its ethical object by a re-
semblance from the region of the natural and every-day life, the
parabolh< proper. The form of this parabolic proverb is very
manifold, according as the poet himself expressly compares the
two subjects, or only places them near each other in order that the
hearer or reader may complete the comparison. The proverb is
1 Such integral distichs are also xv. 3, xvi. 7, 10, xvii. 13, 15, xviii. 9, 13,
xix. 26, 27, xx. 7, 8, 10, 11, 20, 21, xxi. 4, 13, 16, 21, 23, 24, 30, xxii. 4, 11,
xxiv. 8, 26, xxvi. 16, xxvii. 14, xxviii. 8, 9, 17, 24, xxix. 1, 5, 12, 14. In xiv.
27, xv. 24, xvii. 23, xix. 27, the second line consists of one sentence with l and
the infin.; in xvi. 12, 26, xxi. 25, xxii. 9, xxvii. 1, xxix. 19, of one sentence
with yKi; with Mxi YKi, xviii. 2, xxiii. 17. The two lines, as xi. 31, xv. 11, xvii.
7, xix. lab, 10, xx. 27, form a conclusion a minori ad majus, or the reverse.
The former or the latter clauses stand in grammatical relation in xxiii. 1, 2,
15 f., xxvii. 22, xxix. 21 (cf. xxii. 29, xxiv. 10, xxvi. 12, xxix. 20, with hypoth.
perf., and xxvi. 26 with hypoth. fut.); in the logical relation of reason and
consequence, xvii. 14, xx. 2, 4; in comparative relation, xii. 9, etc. These
examples show that the two lines, not merely in the more recent, but also
in the old Solomonic Mashal, do not always consist of two parallel members.
INTRODUCTION. 9
least poetic when the likeness between the two subjects is expressed
by a verb; as xxvii. 15 (to which, however, ver. 16 belongs):
A continual dropping in a rainy day
And a contentious woman are alike.
The usual form of expression, neither unpoetic nor properly poetic,
is the introduction of the comparison by K; [as], and of the simili-
tude in the second clause by NKe [so]; as x. 26:
As vinegar to the teeth, and as smoke to the eyes,
So is the sluggard to them who give him a commission.
This complete verbal statement of the relation of likeness may
also be abbreviated by the omission of the NKe; as xxv. 13, xxvi. 11:
As a dog returning to his vomit—
A fool returning to his folly.
We call the parabolic proverbs of these three forms comparisons.
The last, the abbreviated form of the comparative proverb, forms
the transition to another kind of parabolic proverb, which we will
call, in contradistinction to the comparative, the emblematic, in
which the contrast and its emblem are loosely placed together
without any nearer expression of the similitude; as e.g. xxvi. 20,
xxvii. 17, 18, 20. This takes place either by means of the copu-
lative Vav, v;, as xxv. 25—
Cold water to a thirsty soul,
And good news from a far country.1
Or without the Vav; in which case the second line is as the sub-
scription under the figure or double figure painted in the first; e.g.
xxv. 11 f., xi. 22:
A gold ring in a swine's snout—
A fair woman and without understanding.
These ground-forms of two lines can, however, expand into forms
of several lines. Since the distich is the peculiar and most appro-
priate form of the technical proverb, so, when two lines are not
sufficient for expressing the thought intended, the multiplication to
1 This so-called Vav adaequationis, which appears here for the first time in the
Proverbs as the connection between the figure and the thing itself without a
verbal predicate (cf., on the other hand, Job v. 7, xii. 11, xiv. 11 f.), is, like the
Vav, v;, of comparison, only a species of that Vav of association which is called
in Arab. Waw alajam'a, or Waw alam'ayat, or Waw al'asatsahab (vid. at Isa.
xlii. 5); and since usage attributes to it the verbal power of secum habere, it is
construed with the accus. Vid. examples in Freytag's Arabum Proverbia,
among the recent proverbs beginning with the letter (k).
10 THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.
four, six, or eight lines is most natural. In the tetrastich the
relation of the last two to the first two is as manifold as is the
relation of the second line to the first in the distich. There is,
however, no suitable example of four-lined stanzas in antithetic
relation. But we meet with synonymous tetrastichs, e.g. xxiii. 15 f.,
xxiv. 3 f., 28 f.; synthetic, xxx. 5 f.; integral, xxx. 17 f., especially
of the form in which the last two lines constitute a proof passage
beginning with yKi, xxii. 22 f., or NPe, xxii. 24 f., or without exponents,
xxii. 26 f.; comparative without expressing the comparison, xxv.
16 f. (cf., on the other hand, xxvi. 18 f., where the number of lines
is questionable), and also the emblematical, xxv. 4 f.:
Take away the dross from the silver,
And there shall come forth a vessel for the goldsmith;
Take away the wicked from before the king,
And his throne shall be established in righteousness.
Proportionally the most frequently occurring are tetrastichs, the
second half of which forms a proof clause commencing with YKi
or NPe. Among the less frequent are the six-lined, presenting (xxiii.
1-3, xxiv. 11 f.) one and the same thought in manifold aspects,
with proofs interspersed. Among all the rest which are found in
the collection, xxiii. 12-14,19-21, 26-28, xxx. 15 f., xxx. 29-31,
the first two lines form a prologue introductory to the substance
of the proverb; as e.g. xxiii. 12-14:
O let instruction enter into thine heart,
And apply thine ears to the words of knowledge.
Withhold not correction from the child;
For if thou beatest him with the rod—he dies not.
Thou shalt beat him with the rod,
And deliver his soul from hell.
Similarly formed, yet more expanded, is the eight-lined stanza,
xxiii. 22-28:
Hearken unto thy father that begat thee,
And despise not thy mother when she is old.
Buy the truth and sell it not:
Wisdom, and virtue, and understanding.
The father of a righteous man greatly rejoices,
And he that begetteth a wise child hath joy of him.
Thy father and thy mother shall be glad,
And she that bare thee shall rejoice.
The Mashal proverb here inclines to the Mashal ode; for this
octastich may be regarded as a short Mashal song,—like the alpha-
INTRODUCTION. 11
betical Mashal psalm xxxvii., which consists of almost pure tetra-
stichs.
We have now seen how the distich form multiplies itself into
forms consisting of four, six, and eight lines; but it also unfolds
itself, as if in one-sided multiplication, into forms of three, five,
and seven lines. Tristichs arise when the thought of the first line
is repeated (xxvii. 22) in the second according to the synonymous
scheme, or when the thought of the second line is expressed by
contrast in the third (xxii. 29, xxviii. 10) according to the anti-
thetic scheme, or when to the thought expressed in one or two
lines (xxv. 8, xxvii. 10) there is added its proof. The parabolic
scheme is here represented when the object described is unfolded
in two lines, as in the comparison xxv. 13, or when its nature is
portrayed by two figures in two lines, as in the emblematic pro-
verb xxv. 20:
To take off clothing in cold weather,
Vinegar upon nitre,
And he that singeth songs to a heavy heart.
In the few instances of pentastichs which are found, the last
three lines usually unfold the reason of the thought of the first
two: xxiii. 4 f., xxv. 6 f., xxx. 32 f.; to this xxiv. 13 forms an
exception, where the NKe before the last three lines introduces the
expansion of the figure in the first two. As an instance we quote
xxv. 6 f.:
Seek not to display thyself in the presence of the king,
And stand not in the place of the great.
For better that it be said unto thee, "Come up hither,"
Than that they humble thee in the presence of the prince,
While thine eyes have raised themselves.
Of heptastichs I know of only one example in the collection,
viz. xxiii. 6-8 :
Eat not the bread of the jealous,
And lust not after his dainties;
For he is like one who calculates with himself:¾
"Eat and drink," saith he to thee,
And his heart is not with thee.
Thy morsel which thou hast eaten must thou vomit up,
And thou hast wasted thy pleasant words.
From this heptastich, which one will scarcely take for a brief
Mashal ode according to the compound strophe-scheme, we see
that the proverb of two lines can expand itself to the dimensions
12 THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.
of seven and eight lines. Beyond these limits the whole proverb
ceases to be lwAmA in the proper sense; and after the manner of Ps.
xxv., xxxiv., and especially xxxvii., it becomes a Mashal ode. Of
this class of Mashal odes are, besides the prologue, xxii. 17-21,
that of the drunkard, xxiii. 29-35; that of the slothful man, xxiv.
30-34; the exhortation to industry, xxvii. 23-27; the prayer for
a moderate portion between poverty and riches, xxx. 7-9; the
mirror for princes, xxxi. 2-9; and the praise of the excellent
wife, xxxi. 10 ff. It is singular that this ode furnishes the only
example of the alphabetical acrostic in the whole collection. Even
a single trace of original alphabetical sequence afterwards broken
up cannot be found. There cannot also be discovered, in the
Mashal songs referred to, anything like a completed strophe-
scheme; even in xxxi. 10 ff. the distichs are broken by tristichs
intermingled with them.
In the whole of the first part, i. 7-ix., the prevailing form is that
of the extended flow of the Mashal song; but one in vain seeks
for strophes. There is not here so firm a grouping of the lines;
on the supposition of its belonging to the Solomonic era, this is
indeed to be expected. The rhetorical form here outweighs the
purely poetical. This first part of the Proverbs consists of the
following fifteen Mashal strains: (1) i. 7-19, (2) 20 ff., (3) ii.,
(4) iii. 1-18, (5) 19-26, (6) 27 ff., (7) iv. 1-v. 6, (8) 7 ff., (9) vi.
1-5, (10) 6-11, (11) 12-19, (12) 20 ff., (13) vii., (14) viii., (15)
ix. In iii. and ix. there are found a few Mashal odes of two lines
and of four lines which may be regarded as independent Mashals,
and may adapt themselves to the schemes employed; other brief
complete parts are only waves in the flow of the larger discourses,
or are altogether formless, or more than octastichs. The octastich vi.
16-19 makes the proportionally greatest impression of an indepen-
dent inwoven Mashal. It is the only proverb in which symbolical
numbers are used which occurs in the collection from i. to xxix.:
There are six things which Jahve hateth,
And seven are an abhorrence to His soul:
Haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
And hands that shed innocent blood;
An heart that deviseth the thoughts of evil,
Feet that hastily run to wickedness,
One that uttereth lies as a false witness,
And he who soweth strife between brethren.
Such numerical proverbs to which the name hDAmi has been given
INTRODUCTION. 13