Gnomic Literature in Bible and Apocrypha: With Special Reference to the Gnomic Fragments and Their Bearing on the Proverb Collections

The fragments of the Massoretic text of the Bible that are gnomic in character though some of them have been incidentally noted by the commentators have never been collected. The attempt is here made therefore to gather as many as could be recognized and accounted gnomic. When the mass is collected and examined it serves it is believed to make a new historical background for the larger canonical and post-canonical books of the gnomic series. --from the Introduction