DISCREPANCIES BETWEEN THE MASORETIC TEXT AND THE SEPTUAGINT VERSIONS OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS: A TEMPTING NEW SOLUTION
DISCREPANCIES BETWEEN THE MASORETIC TEXT AND THE SEPTUAGINT VERSIONS OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS: A TEMPTING NEW SOLUTION

Summary/Abstract: Discrepancies between the versions of the Book of Proverbs in the Masoretic Text (MT) and Septuagint (LXX) have occupied scholars for centuries. Some solutions are briefly outlined in this article, together with a new proposal for resolving these discrepancies, based on the premise that the Book of Proverbs may have originally contained three independent textual collections: Proverbs 1–24, associated with King Solomon; Proverbs 25–29, associated with King Hezekiah, and an independent section, Proverbs 30–31, which could have been part of either Solomon’s or Hezekiah’s collection. It is further proposed that the redactors of the Masoretic Text simply appended Proverbs 30–31 to the end of the Book of Proverbs, i.e., Hezekiah’s collection, whereas the LXX translators adapted Proverbs 30–31 to be part of Solomon’s collection, within the new context of the LXX Proverbs 24.

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