Counsels of Wisdom

Scholars disagree on the date of the work. Gemser and Frans de Liagre Böhl placed it in the First Dynasty,{{cite journal | last=Böhl | first=Frans Marius Theodor de Liagre | date=1942 | title=De zonnegod als de beschermer der nooddruftigen | trans-title=The sun god as the protector of the poor | language=nl | journal=Jaarbericht Ex Oriente Lux |volume=8 |pages=665-680, at p. 670 | publication-place=Leiden | publisher=Vooraziatisch-Egyptisch Gezelschap | issn=0075-2118 | oclc=643516029 | url=https://archive.org/details/JEOL8/page/n54/mode/1up}}{{verification needed|date=August 2024}} but Lambert believes it should be dated to the Kassite period.{{sfn|Lambert|1996|p=97}} The work is attested primarily by a stone tablet written in Late Babylonian script.{{sfn|Lambert|1996|p=97}}

The text is addressed to "my son", which may be a physical son, a student, a successor, or a trope of the genre, as it is in later wisdom literature.{{sfn|Lambert|1996|p=96}} Scholars have observed several pieces of ancient wisdom literature to be similar, including the Instructions of Shuruppak, Counsels of a Pessimist, and the [https://archive.org/details/jstor-527573 Hymn to Šamaš] {{Crossreference printworthy|(See Shamash)}}. Together these works were an ancient genre.{{sfn|Lambert|1996|p=97}} Similarities have been noticed with the Book of Proverbs, but no literary dependence has been found.{{sfn|Whybray|2009|p=51}} The Counsels of Wisdom is believed to have been somewhat popular in its time, since fragments of this passage are quoted in other extant works.{{sfn|Lambert|1996|p=96}} The work may have influenced the Wisdom of Ahiqar.{{sfn|Greenstein|2022|p=307}}

Biblical scholar John Nolland sees a passage in the Counsels of Wisdom as a possible precursor to Jesus' command to "love your enemies": "Do not return evil to the man who disputes with you; requite with kindness your evil-doer... smile on your adversary."{{sfn|Nolland|2005|p=265}}

• Akkadian literature
• Wisdom literature

{{Reflist}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite book | last=Greenstein | first=Edward L. | year=2022 | chapter=Wisdom in Mesopotamia in relation to von Rad's Wisdom in Israel | pages=287–320 | editor-last=Sandoval | editor-first=Timothy J. | editor-last2=Schipper | editor-first2=Bernd U. | title=Gerhard von Rad and the Study of Wisdom Literature | publication-place=Atlanta | publisher=SBL Press | series=Ancient Israel and its literature | isbn=978-1-62837-450-6 | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UaWYEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA307}}
• {{cite journal | last=Barré | first=Michael L. | title="Fear of God" and the World View of Wisdom |journal=Biblical Theology Bulletin | publisher=SAGE Publications | volume=11 | issue=2 | year=1981 | pages=41–43 | doi=10.1177/014610798101100203 | s2cid=170183050 }}
• {{cite journal |last=Kitchen |first=Kenneth A. |title=Proverbs and wisdom books of the ancient Near East: the factual history of a literary form |journal=Tyndale Bulletin |volume=28 |date=1977 |url=http://98.131.162.170/tynbul/library/TynBull_1977_28_03_Kitchen_ProverbsANEWisdom.pdf |access-date=16 April 2017 |pages=69–114 |doi=10.53751/001c.30617 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120518222712/http://98.131.162.170//tynbul/library/TynBull_1977_28_03_Kitchen_ProverbsANEWisdom.pdf |archive-date=18 May 2012 |url-status=dead }}
• {{cite book | last=Lambert | first=Wilfred G. | title=Babylonian Wisdom Literature | publisher=Eisenbrauns | year=1996 | orig-year=1960 | isbn=978-0-931464-94-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vYuRDcieF2EC&pg=PA96 |pages=96–107}}
• {{cite book | last=Nolland | first=John | year=2005 | title=The Gospel of Matthew: A commentary on the Greek text | series=The New International Greek Testament Commentary | publication-place=Grand Rapids, Michigan | publisher=William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company | isbn=978-0-8028-2389-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9cL_kpdUE-oC&pg=PA265}}
• {{cite book | last=Whybray | first=R.N. | title=Wisdom in Proverbs: The Concept of Wisdom in Proverbs 1-9 | publisher=Wipf & Stock Publishers | series=Studies in Biblical Theology, First Series | year=2009 | isbn=978-1-60899-019-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FFRMAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA51}}

{{refend}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite journal | last1=Begg | first1=Christopher T. | last2=Duggan | first2=Michael W. | last3=Hieke | first3=Thomas | title=The Ancient Near East: Texts, Traditions, etc | journal=Old Testament Abstracts | volume=45 | issue=2 | date=2022 | issn=2639-2003 | doi=10.1353/ota.2022.0054 | pages=346–382}}
• {{cite book | last=Clifford | first=R.J. | year=2011 | title=The wisdom literature | publisher=Abingdon Press | series=Interpreting Biblical Texts | isbn=978-1-4267-5001-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tXz7ccoTjH8C&pg=PA11 | page=11}}
• {{cite book | last=Cohen | first=Yoram | year=2013 | title=Wisdom from the late Bronze Age | publisher=SBL Press | series=Writings from the ancient world | isbn=978-1-58983-754-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VTVXAQAAQBAJ}}
• {{cite journal | last=Denning-Bolle | first=Sara J. | date=1987 | title=Wisdom and Dialogue in the Ancient Near East | journal=Numen | volume=34 | issue=2 | issn=0029-5973 | doi=10.1163/156852787X00038 | jstor=3270085 | pages=214–234}}
• {{cite book | last=Lenzi | first=Alan | date=2018 | chapter='Counsels of Wisdom' as 'white-collar' wisdom in first millennium ancient Mesopotamia | pages=60–69 | editor-last=Oshima | editor-first=Takayoshi M. | title=Teaching morality in antiquity: Wisdom texts, oral traditions, and images | series=Orientalische Religionen in der Antike | volume=29 | publication-place=Tübingen | publisher=Mohr Siebeck | isbn=978-3-16-156480-2 | doi=10.1628/978-3-16-156481-9 | issn=1869-0513 | via=Academia.edu}}
• {{cite journal | last=Lenzi | first=Alan | date=2021 | title=Counsels of Wisdom: An ancient Babylonian instruction for scribal students | journal=Religion Compass | volume=15 | issue=3 | issn=1749-8171 | doi=10.1111/rec3.12390}}
• {{cite book | last=Greenfield | first=Jonas C. | date=2001 | chapter=The Wisdom of Aḥiqar | pages=334–343 | doi=10.1163/9789004532014_038 | editor-last=Paul | editor-first=Shalom M. | editor-last2=Stone | editor-first2=Michael E. | editor-last3=Pinnick | editor-first3=Avital | title='Al Kanfei Yonah | series=Collected Studies of Jonas C. Greenfield on Semitic Philology | volume=1 | publication-place=Leiden | publisher=Brill | isbn=978-90-04-53201-4}}
• {{cite book | last=Perdue | first=L.G. | year=2008 | title=The sword and the stylus: An introduction to wisdom in the age of empires | publisher=Eerdmans Publishing Company | isbn=978-0-8028-6245-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xJEuthTCjSgC&pg=PR7 | page=7}}
• {{cite thesis | last=Martins | first=Ivo Ricardo dos Santos | date=2017 | title=Liminality and the social functions of Akkadian Wisdom Literature (ca. 1200–458 BCE) | degree=M.A. | publisher=Leiden University | via=Academia.edu}}
• {{cite book | last=Martins | first=Ivo Ricardo dos Santos | date=13 August 2024 | chapter=Reframing wisdom through liminality in Akkadian literature | doi=10.4324/9781003485094-2 | editor-last=De Martin | editor-first=Sara | editor-last2=Furlan | editor-first2=Anna Lucia | title=Wisdom Discourse in the Ancient World | publication-place=London | publisher=Routledge | isbn=978-1-03-277858-7 | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kRIaEQAAQBAJ&pg=PA2009 | page=21-27 }}

{{refend}}

• [https://www.ebl.lmu.de/corpus/L/2/3 II.3 Counsels of Wisdom] Critical edition and translation of the text (electronic Babylonian Library).
• [https://mostlydeadlanguages.tumblr.com/post/132233974443/counsels-of-wisdom-bwl-96ff-21-80 Counsels of Wisdom] (SAT translation).

{{Ancient Mesopotamia}}

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Category:Akkadian literature

Category:Ancient Near East wisdom literature

Category:First Babylonian Empire

Category:Kassites

Category:2nd-millennium BC literature