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Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Job: Wisdom

  1. Lesson One
    Proverbs: Sayings of Sages (Proverbs 5–9, 22–30)
    25 Activities
  2. Lesson Two
    Proverbs: Wisdom, Our World and YHWH (Proverbs 10–21, 31)
    29 Activities
    |
    2 Assessments
  3. Lesson Three
    Ecclesiastes
    23 Activities
    |
    1 Assessment
  4. Lesson Four
    The Lament of Job (Job 1–3, 32–42)
    30 Activities
  5. Lesson Five
    The Wisdom of Job (Job 4–31)
    20 Activities
  6. Course Wrap-Up
    Course Completion
    1 Activity
    |
    1 Assessment

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Grab your Workbook Journal!

[Record your answers in the workbook provided at the beginning of this course.]

Both President Obama and Coach Ditka captured something like biblical wisdom in these expressions, but they weren’t quoting the Bible. These expressions sound like the book of Proverbs, and it’s easy to imagine them alongside the Bible’s Wisdom Literature, but they have other sources. 

  1. In the table in your workbook, identify whether each of the sayings below appears in the book of Proverbs.
Wisdom SayingsYes or no?
God helps those who help themselves.
Give strong drink to him who is perishing, And wine to him whose life is bitter.
Cleanliness is next to godliness.
He who blesses his friend with a loud voice early in the morning, It will be reckoned a curse to him.
Pride comes before a fall.
Eat only what you need, that you not have it in excess and vomit it. 
See the answers to this table below:

Wisdom Sayings

Yes or no?

God helps those who help themselves.

No

Give strong drink to him who is perishing, And wine to him whose life is bitter.

Proverbs 31:6 (NASB)

Cleanliness is next to godliness.

No

He who blesses his friend with a loud voice early in the morning, It will be reckoned a curse to him.

Proverbs 27:14 (NASB)

Pride comes before a fall.

No, but here’s a similar verse:

Pride goes before destruction,

And a haughty spirit before stumbling.

Proverbs 16:18 (NASB)

Have you found honey? Eat only what you need, That you not have it in excess and vomit it.

Proverbs 25:16 (NASB)