Second Division. Sayings of Lemuel. A manual of directions for kings. Proverbs 31:1. The title is uncertain. RV is not grammatically correct. Read mg. Massa (mg.), rendered oracle in Proverbs 31:30, and here by RV, is the regular word for the oracles of the earlier prophets, but is strange in this connexion. There is a Mas-' a mentioned in the inscriptions of Tiglath-pileser IV along with Teima in N. Arabia. This was one of the traditional seats of wisdom, like Edom, and possibly the name was adopted in view of this. But of Massa, both here and in Proverbs 30:1, is conjectural (cf. Genesis 10:30; Genesis 25:14, and 1 Chronicles 1:30, also article in HDB).

Proverbs 31:3. RV is incorrect; read mg.

Proverbs 31:8. such as are left desolate: too free a paraphrase. Heb. is all the sons of change (cf. mg.), change being unwarrantably interpreted as those who suffer a change of fortune. A slight emendation gives the sense those who suffer

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