Proverbs 25:1 These [are] are also proverbs of Solomon
These that follow to the end of the book, as well as those which go before. Here begins a "third", some say a "fourth" part of this book. The Targum and Syriac version read,
``these are also the deep proverbs of Solomon;''
and the Arabic version adds,
``the exposition of which is difficult;''
which the men Hezekiah king of Judah copied out;
out of the writings of Solomon; out of his three thousand proverbs, it, nay be; or out of the public records, which contained an account of his words and deeds. Who these men were is not certain; perhaps his ministers of state, Eliakim, Sheban, and Joah; or the prophets of his time, Isaiah, Micah, and Hosea: the Targum and Syriac version call them his "friends". Whoever they were, no doubt they were employed by Hezekiah; and which is recorded to his honour, that he was so careful to preserve such useful sayings, and annex them to those that were already collected and put together as above. This verse, it is likely, was written by one of the copiers. The proverbs begin in (
Proverbs 25:2 ) .