Proverbs 9

Proverbs 9
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The whole Book of Proverbs in the Leningrad Codex (1008 C.E.) from an old fascimile edition.
Book	Book of Proverbs
Category	Ketuvim
Christian Bible part	Old Testament
Order in the Christian part	21

Proverbs 9 is the ninth chapter of the Book of Proverbs in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible.^[1][2] The book is a compilation of several wisdom literature collections, with the heading in 1:1 may be intended to regard Solomon as the traditional author of the whole book, but the dates of the individual collections are difficult to determine, and the book probably obtained its final shape in the post-exilic period.^[3] This chapter is a part of the first collection of the book.^[4]

The following table shows the Hebrew text^[5][6] of Proverbs 9 with vowels alongside an English translation based upon the JPS 1917 translation (now in the public domain).

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text, which includes the Aleppo Codex (10th century), and Codex Leningradensis (1008).^[7] Fragments containing parts of this chapter in Hebrew were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls including 4Q103a (4QProv^c; 30 BCE – 30 CE) with extant verses 16–17.^[8][9]

There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BC; some extant ancient manuscripts of this version include Codex Vaticanus (B; ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}}$^B; 4th century), Codex Sinaiticus (S; BHK: ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}}$^S; 4th century), and Codex Alexandrinus (A; ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}}$^A; 5th century).^[10]

This chapter belongs to a section regarded as the first collection in the book of Proverbs (comprising Proverbs 1–9), known as "Didactic discourses".^[3] The Jerusalem Bible describes chapters 1–9 as a prologue of the chapters 10–22:16, the so-called "[actual] proverbs of Solomon", as "the body of the book".^[11] The chapter concludes the first collection or introduction of the book by presenting the final appeals of both wisdom and folly to the 'siimpletons' or naive people in the contrasting style of rival hostesses inviting people to dine in their respective houses, where 'wisdom offers life with no mention of pleasure', whereas 'folly offers pleasure with no mention of death', with the following structure:^[12][13]

• Appeal to accept wisdom (9:1–12)
  • the invitation of wisdom (9:1–6)
  • the description of the responses (9:7–11)
  • the consequence (9:12)
• Appeal to accept folly (9:13–18)
  • the invitation of folly (9:13–17)
  • the consequence (9:18)^[13]

The invitation of Wisdom (verses 3–4) echoes the earlier appeals (cf. Proverbs 1:20–21; 8:1–5).^[12] It is addressed to the 'simple' or 'simpletons', that is, the people who need the most to dine with Wisdom but who can be most easily enticed to dine with Folly (cf. Proverbs 1:4).^[12] Food and drink (verse 5) figuratively describe Wisdom's instruction (cf. Isaiah 55:1–3; Sirach 15:3; 24:19–21).^[12]

Wisdom has built her house,

she has hewn out her seven pillars;^[14]

• "Seven pillars": may refer to 'the habitable world' (cf. Proverbs 8:31; the equation of the house and the world in Proverbs 8:29; Job 38:6; Psalm 104:5).^[15] "Seven" is regarded as 'a number for completeness and sacredness', giving the idea that wisdom produces a perfect world.^[15]

She has sent out her maidens,

She cries out from the highest places of the city.^[16]

Benson says personified Wisdom may be compared to "a great princess": therefore "it was fit she should be attended on by maidens".^[17]

Folly is portrayed in terms of the 'seductress', described as 'woman of foolishness' (verse 13).^[12] The brash manner in which Folly invites the simple to her house (verses 13–16) recalls the solicitations of the seductress (Proverbs 7:11–12) and contrasts with the formality and decorum of Wisdom's invitation..^[12] Whereas the banquet of Wisdom promotes and celebrates life (verse 6), to dine with Folly is to banquet with the 'dead' in Sheol (cf Proverbs 2:18–19; 5: 5–6; 7:27).^[18]

A foolish woman is clamorous;

she is simple, and knows nothing.^[19]

Like Wisdom in the previous chapter, Folly is also personified as a character, called "Dame Folly" in the Jerusalem Bible, "the woman called Folly" in the New English Translation.^[20]

• In different languages, this verse is rendered as follows:^[21]
  • The Hebrew Masoretic Text reads "The foolish woman is boisterous, simplicity, and knows not what." and the Targum translates it, “a foolish woman and a gadabout, ignorant, and she knows not good.”
  • The Greek Septuagint reads "A foolish and impudent woman comes to lack a morsel, she who knows not shame."
  • The Syriac version has "a woman lacking in discretion, seductive"
  • The Latin Vulgate has, "a woman foolish and noisy, and full of wiles, and knowing nothing at all."^[21]
• "Clamorous": or "boisterous"^[22] or close to “riotous”.^[23]
• "Simple" or "full of simpleness",^[24] from a Hebrew noun meaning “foolishness”.^[25]

• Aitken, K. T. (2007). "19. Proverbs". In Barton, John; Muddiman, John (eds.). The Oxford Bible Commentary (first (paperback) ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 405–422. ISBN 978-0199277186. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
• Alter, Robert (2010). The Wisdom Books: Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes: A Translation with Commentary. W.W. Norton & Co. ISBN 978-0393080735.
• Coogan, Michael David (2007). Coogan, Michael David; Brettler, Marc Zvi; Newsom, Carol Ann; Perkins, Pheme (eds.). The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books: New Revised Standard Version, Issue 48 (Augmented 3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195288810.
• Farmer, Kathleen A. (1998). "The Wisdom Books". In McKenzie, Steven L.; Graham, Matt Patrick (eds.). The Hebrew Bible Today: An Introduction to Critical Issues. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0-66425652-4.
• Fox, Michael V. (2009). Proverbs 10-31: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300155563.
• Halley, Henry H. (1965). Halley's Bible Handbook: an abbreviated Bible commentary (24th (revised) ed.). Zondervan Publishing House. ISBN 0-310-25720-4.
• Perdue, Leo G. (2012). Proverbs Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching. Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. ISBN 978-0664238841.
• Ulrich, Eugene, ed. (2010). The Biblical Qumran Scrolls: Transcriptions and Textual Variants. Brill.
• Würthwein, Ernst (1995). The Text of the Old Testament. Translated by Rhodes, Erroll F. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans. ISBN 0-8028-0788-7. Retrieved January 26, 2019.

• Jewish translations:
  • Mishlei - Proverbs - Chapter 9 (Judaica Press) translation [with Rashi's commentary] at Chabad.org
• Christian translations:
  • Online Bible at GospelHall.org (ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English)
• Book of Proverbs Chapter 9 King James Version
• Book of Proverbs public domain audiobook at LibriVox Various versions