the book of Proverbs
The key word in Proverbs is wisdom,"the ability to live life skillfully." A godly life in an ungodly world, however, is no simple assignment. Proverbs provides God's detailed instructions for His people to deal successfully with the practical affairs of everyday life: how to relate to God, parents, children, neighbors and government. Solomon, the principal author, uses a combination of poetry, parables, pithy questions, short stories and wise maxims to give in strikingly memorable form the common sense and divine perspective necessary to handle life's issues.
Because Solomon, the pinnacle of Israel's wise men, was the principal contributor, the Hebrew title of this book is Mishle Shelomoh, "Proverbs of Solomon" (1:1). The Greek title is Paroimiai Salomontos, "Proverbs of Solomon." The Latin title Liber Proverbiorum, "Book of Proverbs," combines the words pro "for" and verba "words" to describe the way the proverbs concentrate many words into a few. The rabbinical writings called Proverbs Sepher Hokhmah, "Book of Wisdom."
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