The Book of Proverbs

The Book of Proverbs stands in the Catholic Bible after the Psalms and before Ecclesiastes. The Vulgate calls it Liber Proverbiorum, and its first words give its oldest title: "The parables of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel." It is a book of short, weighty sayings, most of them a single verse in two balanced halves, gathered to teach how a man who fears God should live, at home, at work and before the judge. Its first lesson governs the rest: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (1:7). Below this guide, every chapter is given in the Latin Vulgate beside the Douay-Rheims.

Who wrote the Book of Proverbs?

The Church received Proverbs as the work of King Solomon, and the book itself gives the reasons. Three of its titles name him: "The parables of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel" (Proverbs 1:1); "The parables of Solomon" at the head of chapter 10; and "These are also parables of Solomon, which the men of Ezechias king of Juda copied out" (Proverbs 25:1). Sacred history agrees.

When God answered Solomon's prayer for an understanding heart (3 Kings 3, 1 Kings 3 in modern Bibles), He gave him "wisdom and understanding exceeding much," and "Solomon also spoke three thousand parables: and his poems were a thousand and five" (3 Kings 4:29-32). Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 47:18 recalls how "the countries wondered at thee for thy canticles, and proverbs, and parables," and Our Lord speaks of those who came "to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold more than Solomon here" (Luke 11:31).

The early Fathers, reading the Greek titles of the last two chapters, regarded Solomon as the author of the whole book, and the medieval writers of the West took Agur and Lamuel, named there, for symbolic names of Solomon. Challoner's note at Proverbs 30:1 leaves it "uncertain" whether Agur is Solomon "or a different person, whose doctrine was adopted by Solomon"; Lamuel, he adds, "is supposed to have been one of the names of Solomon."

The Catholic Encyclopedia (1911) sums up the Catholic position: Catholic writers are "wellnigh unanimous" in ascribing to Solomon the three parts that bear his name (chapters 1-9, 10-22:16 and 25-29), since the titles distinguish carefully between authors; many treat as separate the "words of the wise," the words of Agur and Lamuel, and the poem on the valiant woman. The principal Author is the Holy Ghost. The Pontifical Biblical Commission issued no decree on Proverbs. Many modern scholars date the collections after the Exile; the Encyclopedia weighs their arguments and finds them unconvincing.

When was the Book of Proverbs written?

On the traditional view, the proverbs of Solomon belong to his reign in the tenth century before Christ. The book grew in stages: some two centuries later the scribes of the holy king Ezechias, whose reign is told in 4 Kings 18-20, "copied out" a further gathering of Solomon's sayings (25:1), and the other collections were joined to them, the final arrangement coming "either under Ezechias, or as late as Esdras," in the Catholic Encyclopedia's words. By the first century the Apostles quote it as Scripture.

What is the Book of Proverbs about? A summary

The praise of Wisdom (chapters 1–9)

After a prologue on the use of the book (1:2-6) comes its motto, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (Proverbs 1), and a father speaks to "my son" in connected discourses. He warns him against the company of robbers, while Wisdom cries out in the streets against those who refuse her. Chapter 2 sets out the evils from which wisdom delivers; chapter 3 calls for trust in God, first-fruits and patience under His correction; chapter 4 is the plea "Get wisdom, get prudence," handed down from the father's own father. Chapters 5 and 7 warn against the adulteress whose "house is the way to hell," and chapter 6 adds counsels on suretyship, sloth and the seven things the Lord hates.

The section rises in chapter 8, where Wisdom tells of her eternal origin with God, and closes in chapter 9 with two invitations: Wisdom's feast in her house of seven pillars, and Folly's call to "stolen waters," whose "guests are in the depths of hell."

The parables of Solomon (chapters 10–22:16)

Here begins what Challoner's heading calls "many wise sayings and axioms, relating to wisdom and folly, virtue and vice" (Proverbs 10). Each verse is complete in itself, usually setting the just against the wicked: "A wise son maketh the father glad: but a foolish son is the sorrow of his mother" (10:1). The sayings range over the honest weight, the correction of children (chapter 13), the mild answer (chapter 15), pride and providence (chapter 16), friendship and a quiet tongue (chapter 17), wine and the king's heart in God's hand.

The words of the wise (chapters 22:17–24)

A new heading asks: "Incline thy ear, and hear the words of the wise" (Proverbs 22:17). These sayings are longer, often in groups of four lines, and warn against gluttony at a prince's table, drunkenness and envy of evil men (chapter 23), where the drunkard is asked, "Who hath woe?... who hath redness of eyes?" (23:29). A short appendix, "These things also to the wise," ends with the sluggard's field overgrown with nettles (Proverbs 24).

The parables copied by the men of Ezechias (chapters 25–29)

The second Solomonic collection opens in chapter 25 and resembles the first: on kings and counsellors, on the enemy who must be fed, on the fool, on friendship and tomorrow's uncertainty (chapter 27), and on confession of sin and just government (chapters 28 and 29).

The words of Agur and of Lamuel, and the valiant woman (chapters 30–31)

Chapter 30 gives the humble prayer of a wise man who confesses, "I have not learned wisdom," followed by numerical sayings: three things and a fourth. Chapter 31 gives the counsel of King Lamuel's mother against lust and wine, then the closing poem, an alphabetical acrostic in the Hebrew, on the valiant woman: "Who shall find a valiant woman? far and from the uttermost coasts is the price of her" (31:10).

Themes and the Catholic reading

The fear of the Lord. The book turns on this phrase (1:7; 9:10; 15:33). It is a son's reverence, not servile dread, and the last of the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost as Isaias lists them. Wisdom is first received from God, then practised: "lean not upon thy own prudence" (3:5).

Wisdom and the eternal Word. In Proverbs 8:22-31 Wisdom speaks in her own person: "The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways... I was with him forming all things." The Fathers read these words of the Son, the Word who "was in the beginning with God" (John 1). Because the Greek reads "created me," the Arians made the verse their weapon; St Athanasius answered in his second Oration against the Arians that it speaks of the Word's taking flesh, not of His eternal generation. The Vulgate's possedit, "possessed," keeps that sense, and the Book of Wisdom develops the same portrait.

Our Lady, Seat of Wisdom. The Church reads this passage, Dominus possedit me, as the Epistle of the Immaculate Conception and of the Nativity of Our Lady. Pius IX explains in Ineffabilis Deus (1854) that the words Scripture uses of uncreated Wisdom and His eternal origin, the Church in her liturgy applies also to the origin of the Virgin, decreed together with the Incarnation. It is the Marian sense behind the Immaculate Conception.

Wisdom's banquet and the Eucharist. "Wisdom hath built herself a house... She hath slain her victims, mingled her wine, and set forth her table... Come, eat my bread, and drink the wine which I have mingled for you" (9:1-5). St Cyprian cites it in his letter to Caecilius as a figure of the Lord's sacrifice, and St Augustine (City of God XVII, 20) reads the house as the human nature the Word built for Himself in the Virgin's womb, and the table as the altar of the priesthood after the order of Melchisedech.

The moral life. Most of Proverbs is plain ethics: work against sloth, chastity against lust, a governed tongue, humility, almsgiving, sobriety, the duties of parents and children. Its "six things... which the Lord hateth" (6:16-19) and "Pride goeth before destruction" (16:18) are classic texts on the seven deadly sins and on pride, its counsel on the correction of children (13:24; 22:15) is the ground of what God says about parenting, and prudence, first of the cardinal virtues, is commended on nearly every page.

The Apostles' use of Proverbs. The New Testament quotes the book as the word of God: "whom the Lord loveth, he chastiseth" (3:12, in Hebrews 12); "God resisteth the proud" (3:34, after the Greek, in James 4:6); "charity covereth a multitude of sins" (10:12, in 1 Peter 4:8); the coals heaped on an enemy's head (25:21-22, in Romans 12:20); and "the dog is returned to his vomit" (26:11, in 2 Peter 2:22).

Famous verses and chapters from the Book of Proverbs

Proverbs 1:7. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Fools despise wisdom and instruction" (Proverbs 1).

Proverbs 3:5-6. "Have confidence in the Lord with all thy heart, and lean not upon thy own prudence. In all thy ways think on him, and he will direct thy steps" (Proverbs 3), the verse we treat at length in Trust in the Lord with All Your Heart. The same chapter calls wisdom "a tree of life to them that lay hold on her" (3:18).

Proverbs 4. "Get wisdom, get prudence" (4:5); "the path of the just, as a shining light, goeth forwards and increaseth even to perfect day" (4:18); "With all watchfulness keep thy heart, because life issueth out from it" (4:23), in Proverbs 4.

Proverbs 6. "Go to the ant, O sluggard, and consider her ways, and learn wisdom" (6:6), and the seven things the Lord detests, from "haughty eyes, a lying tongue" to "him that soweth discord among brethren" (6:16-19), in Proverbs 6.

Proverbs 15:1 and 16:18. "A mild answer breaketh wrath: but a harsh word stirreth up fury" (Proverbs 15); "Pride goeth before destruction: and the spirit is lifted up before a fall" (Proverbs 16).

Proverbs 17:17. "He that is a friend loveth at all times: and a brother is proved in distress" (Proverbs 17).

Proverbs 18:22. "He that hath found a good wife, hath found a good thing, and shall receive a pleasure from the Lord" (Proverbs 18), one of the book's many praises of a good marriage.

Proverbs 22:6. "A young man according to his way, even when he is old he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22), the verse often quoted as "Train up a child in the way he should go."

Proverbs 24:16 and 27:17. "For a just man shall fall seven times and shall rise again" (Proverbs 24); "Iron sharpeneth iron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend" (Proverbs 27).

Proverbs 28:13. "He that hideth his sins, shall not prosper: but he that shall confess, and forsake them, shall obtain mercy" (Proverbs 28).

Proverbs 31:10-31. The valiant woman, mulier fortis: "Strength and beauty are her clothing... Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: the woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised" (Proverbs 31). St Bede read her as a figure of the Church; see the Proverbs 31 woman.

The Book of Proverbs in the canon and in the liturgy

Proverbs is a protocanonical book: it stands among the Writings (Hagiographa) of the Hebrew Bible and is found in Catholic and Protestant Bibles alike. In the Catholic Old Testament it is one of the seven Wisdom books, with Job, the Psalms, Ecclesiastes, the Canticle, Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus (Sirach). The councils of Hippo (393) and Carthage (397) counted it among "five books of Solomon," and the Council of Trent (Session IV, 8 April 1546) named it among the canonical books under its old Latin title Parabolae.

St Jerome translated Proverbs from the Hebrew for the Latin Vulgate, with Ecclesiastes and the Canticle, "the work of three days," as his preface to the books of Solomon says. The Vulgate keeps a few lines from the Greek tradition, translated in the Douay-Rheims Bible but absent from the King James, as at the end of 4:27 and at 6:11, 10:4 and 12:11; the numbering is otherwise practically the same.

In the Roman Breviary Proverbs opens the Matins readings of August, beginning on the first Sunday of the month, followed by Ecclesiastes, Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus. In the 1962 Missal, Proverbs 8:22-35 is the Epistle of the Immaculate Conception (8 December) and of the Nativity of Our Lady (8 September), and 31:10-31, Mulierem fortem, the Epistle of the Mass Cognovi for holy women. Pray the Hours in our Breviary and follow the feasts in the liturgical calendar.

How to read the Book of Proverbs

Read chapters 1 to 9 straight through, as one exhortation; they are the key to the rest. Then slow down: the collections from chapter 10 are meant to be taken a few verses at a time and applied, and many readers take one chapter for each day of the month. Keep 3 Kings at hand for Solomon's life, read chapter 8 again before the feasts of Our Lady, and for a classic commentary turn to Cornelius a Lapide. Then go on to Ecclesiastes in our Catholic Bible, and pray with Solomon in our prayer for wisdom.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who wrote the Book of Proverbs?

The Church has received Proverbs as the work of King Solomon, son of David, whose name stands at the head of its three main collections (1:1; 10:1; 25:1), and Scripture says he "spoke three thousand parables" (3 Kings 4:32). Part of the book was copied out by the scribes of King Ezechias, and short sections are headed "the words of the wise" and the words of Agur and Lamuel, whom older writers took for names of Solomon. The principal Author, as of all Scripture, is the Holy Ghost.

When was the Book of Proverbs written?

Solomon's proverbs come from his reign in the tenth century before Christ. The book grew by stages: the men of King Ezechias, at the end of the eighth century before Christ, copied out a further collection of Solomon's sayings (25:1), and the whole reached its present form either under Ezechias or, at the latest, in the time of Esdras after the Exile. Many modern scholars date the compilation later still.

What is the Book of Proverbs about?

It is a book of practical wisdom for living before God. Chapters 1 to 9 are a father's exhortation to seek Wisdom and flee folly; chapters 10 to 29 collect short sayings on work, speech, money, marriage, children and justice; chapters 30 and 31 close with the words of Agur and Lamuel and the praise of the valiant woman. Begin with Proverbs 1.

What is the main message of the Book of Proverbs?

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (1:7). True wisdom begins with reverence for God, is received from Him, and shows itself in a well-ordered life; the way of the just leads to life, the way of the fool to death. The Fathers saw this Wisdom revealed in Christ.

How many chapters and verses are in the Book of Proverbs?

The Book of Proverbs has 31 chapters and 915 verses, in the Douay-Rheims as in the King James Version. The longest chapter is chapter 8, with 36 verses; the shortest is chapter 9, with 18.

How many proverbs are in the Book of Proverbs?

There is no fixed count, since some sayings fill one verse and others several; most of the 915 verses, especially in chapters 10 to 29, are self-contained proverbs. Scripture says Solomon spoke three thousand parables (3 Kings 4:32), so the book is an inspired selection from a larger body of his wisdom.

Did King Solomon write Proverbs and Ecclesiastes?

Yes, according to tradition. Proverbs names Solomon in its titles, and Ecclesiastes opens with "The words of Ecclesiastes, the son of David, king of Jerusalem," which the Fathers understood of Solomon; with the Canticle of Canticles these make the three books of Solomon received by the Jews, which Origen read as three stages of the spiritual life. Read Ecclesiastes and the Canticle of Canticles after Proverbs to follow that order.

Why was the Book of Proverbs written?

The book states its purpose in its first verses: "To know wisdom, and instruction... to give subtilty to little ones, to the young man knowledge and understanding" (1:2-4). It was written to form the young in the fear of God and to make the wise wiser, in every state of life.

Is Proverbs the same as the Book of Wisdom?

No. Proverbs is a protocanonical book of short sayings found in every Bible; the Book of Wisdom is a later deuterocanonical book, written in Greek, found in Catholic Bibles. The liturgy introduces readings from both as Lectio libri Sapientiae. See the Book of Wisdom and the deuterocanonical books.

Read the whole Book of Proverbs verse by verse, Latin and English, in the Iter Fidei Catholic Bible app.

Sources. The Book of Proverbs, Latin Vulgate and Douay-Rheims (Challoner revision, 1749-1752), with Challoner's notes; 3 Kings 3-4; Ecclesiasticus 47; St Jerome, Preface to the Books of Solomon; Origen, Prologue to the Commentary on the Canticle of Canticles; St Athanasius, Second Oration against the Arians; St Cyprian, Letter to Caecilius (Ep. 62/63); St Augustine, The City of God XVII, 20; St Bede, Commentary on Proverbs (on the valiant woman); Councils of Hippo (393) and Carthage (397); Council of Trent, Session IV, Decree on the Canonical Scriptures (1546); Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus (1854); The Catholic Encyclopedia, "Book of Proverbs" (vol. XII, 1911); Missale Romanum (1962); Breviarium Romanum (1962).