Tools for Interpreting Proverbs

5 Tools for Interpreting Proverbs

1. Interpret Proverbs by remembering what a proverb is.
   • Brief
   • Poetic
   • Guide to godly living
2. Interpret Proverbs as general principles, rather than unconditional promises.
3. Interpret Proverbs recognizing that the proverbs generally fall into two literary forms.
   • Instructions/commands
   • Wisdom sayings
4. Interpret Proverbs by understanding parallelism.
   • Synonymous parallelism
   • Antithetic parallelism
   • Emblematic parallelism
   • Synthetic parallelism
5. Interpret Proverbs with the broader teaching of scripture.

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