A foundational anthology of Hebrew wisdom built from maxims, parental instruction, and poems in praise of Wisdom. Its short, memorable counsel makes it one of the clearest ancestors of later conduct books and aphoristic literature.
Sources for The Book of Proverbs — King James Version
The Book of Proverbs — King James Version in Wisdom Literature
Held in the Wisdom Literature chamber of the Babel Nexus Index.
- Maxims of Ptahhotep (Egyptian) (−2400)
- The Instructions of Shuruppak (Sumerian) (−2600)
- Instructions of Amenemhat (Egyptian) (−1900)
- Disputations or Literary Debates (Sumerian) (−2000)
- The Poem of the Righteous Sufferer (Ludlul bēl nēmeqi, Babylonian) (−1300)
- The Story of Aḥikar (Aramaic) (−500)
- Counsels of Wisdom (Babylonian) (−1000)
- Dialogue of Pessimism (Babylonian — "Nothing Is Of Value") (−1000)
- Instructions of Šūpê-amēli (Akkadian) (−1100)
- Instructions of Kagemni (Egyptian) (−2300)
- Nig-Nam Nu-Kal — "Nothing is of Value" (Sumerian) (−2000)
- Maxims of Ali ibn Abi Talib (c. 660)
- Buddhism — The Dhammapada (−300)
- Ecclesiastes — King James Version (1611)
- Bhartrihari — The Śatakas of Bhartrihari (1886)
- Sa'di — The Gulistan; or, Rose Garden (1852)
- Sa'di — The Bustan of Sa'di (1911)
- Seneca — Moral Epistles to Lucilius, Volume I (1917)