wisdom, imt fully completed, hut running oil' into par- ticulars (i. 8 iii i. (2) an exhaustive enumeration of the particular point- of his admonili.ni (iv, 1 vi, 29), until nil the discourse, gradually rising in power and grandeur, at last attains an almost lyrical flight (vi, Jn ix). According to Delitzsch (in Herzog's Encyklojh) this section is divisible into fifteen si parate -nam — I | i. 7-10; (2)i, 20-33; (3)ii, (4) iii. 1 18; (5) iii, 19 26; nil iii. 27-35, (7) iv, 1-v, 6; (8) v. 7 23; (9) vi. 1-7,. (10) vi, 6 II. (11) vi, 12 I'.': | 12) \i. 20-35; (13) vii; i 14 i viii. (15) iv.
'.'. The second section ix xxiv'i evidently contains three subdivisions i"i the collection of unconnected proverbs or gnomes | x. 1-xxii. 16); (6) " the words of i he u i-t ■" i com p. i. «'. : Eccles. ix, 7, xii. 11), consisting uf a mure connected -erics of maxims, with a hortatory in face recalling the style uf the first section (xxii. 17- xxiv. 22 i ; (c)a shorter appendix of proverbial sayings, with the title "these also belong to the wise," ending with a description of a sluggard (xxiv, 23-34).
:;. The third section i- a continuous s. ries of gnomic sayings without any subdivision (xxv-xxix).
•1. The fourth section, like the second, separates into
three pari- (a) "the words of Agur," a collectii I
proverbial and enigmatical sayings (xxx), (6) "the words of king Lemuel" (xxxi, 1 9); and (c) a short al- phabetical poem in praise of a \ humus u an (xxxi,
Hi 31).
IV. History of ilu Text. — The variations from the existing ofasoretic text of the hook of Proverbs pre- -i in id by i he versions of the Sept.. the Peshito-Syriac, the Targum, ami to some extent bj the Vulg witness in the former existence of copies diffi
main ami imt unimportant points from that which has become the authoritative text. The text, as preserved in these ancient versions, differs from that of our He- brew Bibles both in exec— and defect. They contain
clauses, verses, and sometimes paragraphs not in be found in our extant copies, for the existence of which il
i- difficult to ac mi. iinl.— thej formed part of the
1 k which was before the translators : while other por- tion- are wanting, for the absence of which no sufficient account can he given, excepl that they were not read in iii. .ni. i. in Hebrew MSS. thej employed. Thevery large number nf minor discrepancies, both in language and arrangement, which we meet with, a!! tend to con- firm this view, and ii well dcscr\ es consideration what
PROVERBS
voi
PROVERBS
influence these variations, which every student knows are not confined to this book, should have on the ordi- I narily received hypothesis of the integrity and purity J of the present Hebrew text. This, however, is not the place for the prosecution of this investigation. We shall content ourselves with pointing out the principal points of variation.
1. To commence with the Sept., the earliest of the ex- isting versions. The translation of this book, like that of Job. proves a more competent acquaintance with the Creek language and literature than is usual with the Alexandrine translators. The rendering is more free than literal, giving what the writer conceived to be the general spirit of the passage without strict adher- ence to the actual words. Bertheau remarks that the version of this book appears to have been undertaken rather with a literary than a religious object, as it was not read in the synagogues or required for their internal regulation. It is to this freedom of rendering that not a few of the apparent discrepancies are due. while there are others which are attributable to carelessness, mis- conception of the writer's meaning, or even possibly to arbitrary alterations on the part of the translators. In ] some cases, also, we find two incompatible translations fused into one— e. g. vi, -25; xvi, 26 ; xxiii. 31. Of the ! majority, however, of the variations no explanation can j be offered but that they represent a different original, and therefore deserve consideration for the history of j the text.
In the first division (i-ix) these variations are less considerable than in the second. Two verses appended to ch. iv remove the abruptness of the close and com- plete the sense. To the. simile of the ant (vi, 8), that ! of the bee is added. The insertion after viii, "21 seems out of place, and disturbs the continuity. In ch. ix I there are two considerable additions to the discription of the wise and foolish women, which seem to complete the sense in a very desirable manner. The variations are much more considerable in the section x-xxiv. A large number of verses are wanting (xi. 4 : xiii. 6 ; xvi, 1-4; xviii, 23, 24; xix, 1, 2; xx, 14-19; xxi, 5; xxii, 0; xxiii, 23 — which comes in very awkwardly in the Hebrew text; xxiv, 8) ; the arrangement of others is J dislocated— e. g. ch. xv closes with ver. 20, vers. 30, 32, j 33 standing at the beginning of ch. xvi, while a verse very similar to ver. 31 is found after xvi, 17; xix, 3 stands as the last verse of ch. xviii ; in ch. xx vers. 20- j 22 come, between vers. 9 and 10. The most extraordi- nary dislocation, hardly to be ascribed to anything but an error of the scribe, appears in eh. xxiv. After ver. 22 is introduced xxix,27. to which succeed four distichs descriptive of the wrath of a king and urging attention to the writer's words, not found in the Hebrew. We then find xxx-xxxi, 9 (i. e. the prophecy of Agur and of Lemuel), with the remainder of ch. xxiv, foisted in between vers. 14, 15 of ch. xxx. The remainder of ch. xxxi, the acrostic on a virtuous woman, stands in its right place at the end of the book. The additions in this section are also numerous and important. We find proverbs intercalated between the following verses: x. 4, 5; xi, 16, 17 (bv which a very imperfect antithesis in t he Hebrew is rectified); xii,li,12; 13.14, xiii. 9, 10; 13. 14 (found in the Vulgate, xiv. 15, 16) ; xiv. 22, 23; xv,5,6; 18,19; 27,28; 28,29; xvii.6.7; 10.17; xviii. 22, 23; xix, 7, 8, xxii, 8, 9 (found with slight varia- tions 2 Cor. ix, 7); 9, 10; 14, 15. In the dislocated ch. xvi five or perhaps six new proverbs appear. Inter- calated proverbs are also found ill the section xxv-xxix —e.g. xxv, 10, 11; 20, 21; xxvi, 11. 12 (found also in Eccles.iv,21), xxvii,20,21; 21.22; xxtx,25,26. Be- sides these, a careful scrutiny will discover a large num- ber of smaller interpolations throughout, many of which are only explanatory clauses.