Proverbi 1-9. Testo, traduzione, analisi, composizione

This article tries to specify the composition of the first section of the Book of Proverbs (chs. 1-9) and present a guide for its grammatic-syntactic reading, composition and meaning. Despite the textual difficulties and the different opinions of the interpreters, there is a strict consistency of style, language and contents (§ 1) in that section. The major units of that section are then identified (chs. 1-3 and 4-9, § 2.1), followed by the different opinions of the commentators (§ 2.2), the various speakers alternating in that section (§ 2.3), the three personifications of Wisdom in chs. 1, 8 and 9 (§ 2.4), and the literary genre of the personification of Wisdom (§ 2.5). The article tries to understand the text in its connections within the wisdom tradition of the Old Testament by examining various parallel passages in order to arrive at an overall figure of Wisdom, who leads to the good; and of Foolishness, who invites one toward evil and leads to death, and finally of the teacher of wisdom, who guides the development of the scenes appearing in chs. 1-9.