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Proverbs.

Practical wisdom for daily life — the fear of the LORD as the foundation of skill in living.

Testament

Old Testament

Section

Wisdom & Poetry

Chapters

31

Date

Composition 10th–7th c. BC; collected by the time of Hezekiah (25:1).

Who wrote Proverbs?

Solomon (primarily); also Agur, Lemuel, and unnamed collectors.

Who was it written for?

Young men learning to live wisely.

Structure

  • Prologue (1–9): the call of Wisdom personified
  • Solomon's proverbs (10–22)
  • "Words of the wise" (22–24)
  • More Solomon (25–29)
  • Agur and Lemuel (30–31)

Key verses

Why Proverbs matters

Proverbs assumes wisdom is something you can grow into through paying attention — to creation, to consequences, to other people. It's not philosophical abstraction; it's observation distilled into pithy lines. The book's opening claim that "the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge" is its foundation: skill in living begins with humility before God.

Related tools

Read the book, then test it.

Kerygma's trivia rounds cover Proverbs in the Wisdom & Poetry stream — once you've sat with the overview, the questions go deeper into the text. Free for seven days.

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