How Egyptian Is the Book of Proverbs?

Considering ancient Israel’s fascination with its glorious and powerful neighbor to the southwest, it is not surprising that the texts of Israelite wisdom literature were influenced, in structure and thought, by their Egyptian counterparts. For example, many passages from the Book of Proverbs, especially 22:17–24:22, seem to be paraphrased from the Instructions of Amenemope, a hieratic papyrus probably dating to between the seventh and sixth centuries B.C.E., which contains the advice of an Egyptian wise man. The striking similarities between Proverbs and Amenemope’s papyrus, which are highlighted below, occur in both vocabulary and idiom, leading some scholars to think that the latter text directly influenced the former.