Proverbs and Ecclesiastes (The Anchor Bible, Vol. 18)
Proverbs And Ecclesiastes(Volume 18 of the acclaimed  Anchor Bible series) are translated and edited by R.B.Y. Scott,  Professor Emeritus, the Department of Religion, Princeton  University.Volume 18 contains two books of the Bible which are  part of the "wisdom" literary tradition in ancient Israel and in  neighboring cultures.  In his General Introduction, Professor Scott  presents the context in which both books emerged, and breaks new ground  in his survey of the history of the Wisdom Movement.Proverbs  And Ecclesiastes, considered together, are as instructive in their  similarities as in their differences.  Each has a coherent view of  life, and each proceeds ultimately from a religious premise.  Yet no  two books could be more strikingly different.Proverbsis a  collection of literary and folk maxims and adages, often sententious,  sometimes humorous, compiled as a source book for the education of  youth.  It is a guide to practical wisdom, pointing the way to a  virtuous and successful life.  The translator, in both the introduction  and notes, traces the literary history of the work, and in addition  analyzes the various types of proverbs common to the Bible as well as  to other folk and literary traditions.The book ofEcclesiastes, unlikeProverbs, is intensely personal,  speculative, seemingly negative in outlook.  The product of one pen,  the philosophic and poetic outpourings of one troubled mind,Ecclesiastes, in its pessimistic eloquence, is unmatched in  biblical literature--perhaps in any literature.  YetEcclesiastesis not a work of despair, for it ends finally on a  note of affirmation:  its wisdom stems from long pondering on the  mysteries of man's existence, and its conclusions, far from facile, are  all the more persuasive because they are  hard-won.Ecclesiastesis a short book, beautifully and  faithfully rendered in this volume:  the translation is not only a  considerable scholarly contribution to biblical studies; it is also a  high literary achievement.