Texts in Conversation
Proverbs promises honor to the wise and contempt to fools. In 4Q213 from the Dead Sea Scrolls, Levi uses this contrast to urge his sons to learn wisdom, treating honor as a reason to pursue their education.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Proverbs 3:33-35
Hebrew Bible
33 The Lord’s curse is on the household of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the righteous. 34 With arrogant scoffers he is scornful, yet he shows favor to the humble. 35 The wise inherit honor, but he holds fools up to public contempt.
4Q213 1:9-13
Aramaic Levi a
Dead Sea Scrolls, Biblical Retellings
9 [and whoever sows evil, his seed returns upon] him. And now, reading and instruction and wisdom 10 [teach to your sons, and wisdom will be with you] as eternal honor. Whoever learns wisdom, honor 11 [is his; but whoever despises wisdom] is given over to contempt and scorn. Look, my sons, 12 [at Joseph my brother, who taught reading and the instruction of] wisdom, for honor and for greatness and for kings 13 […] do not be slack in learning wisdom.
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Notes and References
“... Wisdom brings honour, many friends and social position to those
who have it. This idea is already found in biblical wisdom litera-
ture, e.g., Proverbs 3:35, “the wise shall obtain honor, but dullards
get disgrace as their portion” and cf. ben Sira 10:30, 11:1 and 39:4:
compare also Proverbs 8:11, Wisdom 8:10, etc.354 Very striking is
the parallel in ben Sira 39:4, referring to the wise man:
He serves among the great
and appears before rulers;
he travels in foreign lands
and learns what is good and evil in the human lot. ...”
Greenfield, Jonas C.
The Aramaic Levi Document: Edition, Translation, Commentary
(p. 209) Brill, 2004
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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