King James Bible Dictionary

PROVE, verb transitive prov. [Latin probo.]

1. To try; to ascertain some unknown quality or truth by an experiment, or by a test or standard. Thus we prove the strength of gunpowder by experiment; we prove the strength or solidity of cannon by experiment. We prove the contents of a vessel by comparing it with a standard measure.

2. To evince, establish or ascertain as truth, reality or fact, by testimony or other evidence. The plaintiff in a suit, must prove the truth of his declaration; the prosecutor must prove his charges against the accused.

3. To evince truth by argument, induction or reasoning; to deduce certain conclusions from propositions that are true or admitted. If it is admitted that every immoral act is dishonorable to a rational being, and that dueling is an immoral act; then it is proved by necessary inference, that dueling is dishonorable to a rational being.

4. To ascertain the genuineness or validity of; to verify; as, to prove a will.

5. To experience; to try by suffering or encountering; to gain certain knowledge by the operation of something on ourselves, or by some act of our own.

Let him in arms the power of Turnus prove

6. In arithmetic, to show, evince or ascertain the correctness of any operation or result. Thus in subtraction, if the difference between two numbers, added to the lesser number, makes a sum equal to the greater, the correctness of the subtraction is proved. In other words, if the sum of the remainder and of the subtrahend, is equal to the minuend, the operation of subtraction is proved to be correct.

7. To try; to examine.

PROVE your own selves. 2 Corinthians 13:5.

8. Men prove God, when by their provocations they put his patience to trial, Psalms 95:9; or when by obedience they make trial how much he will countenance such conduct, Malachi 3:10.

PROVE, verb intransitive To make trial; to essay.

The sons prepare--

To prove by arms whose fate it was to reign.

1. To be found or to have its qualities ascertained by experience or trial; as, a plant or medicine proves salutary.

2. To be ascertained by the event or something subsequent; as the report proves to be true, or proves to be false.

3. To be found true or correct by the result.

4. To make certain; to show; to evince.

This argument proves how erroneous is the common opinion.

5. To succeed.

If the experiment proved not--

[Not in use.]

PROVED, participle passive Tried; evinced; experienced.

PROVED'ITOR

PROVEDO'RE, noun A purveyor; one employed to procure supplies for an army.

Proveditor, in Venice and other parts of Italy, is an officer who superintends matters of policy.

PROVEN, a word used by Socttish writers for proved.

PROVEN'CIAL, adjective Pertaining to Provence, in France.

PROV'ENDER, noun [Latin vivo, to live, and from vivanda; Eng.viand.]

1. Dry food for beasts, usually meal, or a mixture of meal and cut straw or hay. In a more general sense, it may signify dry food of any kind.

2. Provisions; meat; food.

[Not used of food for man in New England.]

PROVER, noun One that proves or tries; that which proves.

A trite maxim; a similitude; a parable. The Hebrew word thus rendered (mashal) has a wide signification. It comes from a root meaning "to be like," "parable." Rendered "proverb" in Isaiah 14:4; Habakkuk 2:6; "dark saying" in Psalms 49:4, Numbers 12:8. Ahab's defiant words in answer to the insolent demands of Benhadad, "Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off," is a well known instance of a proverbial saying (1 Kings 20:11).

PROV'ERB, noun [Latin proverbium; pro and verbum, a word.]

1. A short sentence often repeated, expressing a well known truth or common fact, ascertained by experience or observation; a maxim of wisdom.

The proverb is true, that light gains make heavy purses, for light gains come often, great gains now and then.

2. A by-word; a name often repeated; and hence frequently, a reproach or object of contempt. Jeremiah 24:9.

3. In Scripture, it sometimes signifies a moral sentence or maxim that is enigmatical; a dark saying of the wise that requires interpretation. Proverbs 1:6.

4. Proverbs, a canonical book of the Old Testament, containing a great variety of wise maxims, rich in practical truths and excellent rules for the conduct of all classes of men.

PROV'ERB, verb transitive To mention in a proverb [Not in use.]

1. To provide with a proverb [Not in use.]

PROVERB'IAL,adjective Mentioned in a proverb; as a proverbial cure or remedy.

In case of excesses, I take the German proverbial cure, by a hair of the same beast, to be the worst in the world.

1. Comprised in a proverb; used or current as a proverb; as a proverbial saying or speech.

2. Pertaining to proverbs; resembling a proverb; suitable to a proverb; as a proverbial obscurity.

PROVERB'IALIST, noun One who speaks proverbs.

PROVERB'IALIZE, verb transitive To make a proverb; to turn into a proverb, or to use proverbially. [Unusual.]

PROVERB'IALLY, adverb In a proverb; as, it is proverbially said.

Design of
Proverbs 1:1-4

Written by Solomon
Proverbs 1:1; Proverbs 25:1

Miscellany of
1 Samuel 10:12; 1 Samuel 24:13-14; 2 Samuel 3:8; 2 Samuel 20:18; 1 Kings 20:11; Proverbs 1:17; Ezekiel 12:22-23; Ezekiel 16:44; Ezekiel 18:2-4; Jeremiah 31:29; Hosea 4:9; Matthew 12:33; Luke 6:44; Luke 4:23; Luke 14:34; John 1:46; 1 Corinthians 15:33; Galatians 6:7
Riddle

A collection of moral and philosophical maxims of a wide range of subjects presented in a poetic form. This book sets forth the "philosophy of practical life. It is the sign to us that the Bible does not despise common sense and discretion. It impresses upon us in the most forcible manner the value of intelligence and prudence and of a good education. The whole strength of the Hebrew language and of the sacred authority of the book is thrown upon these homely truths. It deals, too, in that refined, discriminating, careful view of the finer shades of human character so often overlooked by theologians, but so necessary to any true estimate of human life" (Stanley's Jewish Church).

As to the origin of this book, "it is probable that Solomon gathered and recast many proverbs which sprang from human experience in preceeding ages and were floating past him on the tide of time, and that he also elaborated many new ones from the material of his own experience. Towards the close of the book, indeed, are preserved some of Solomon's own sayings that seem to have fallen from his lips in later life and been gathered by other hands' (Arnot's Laws from Heaven, etc.)

This book is usually divided into three parts:

1. Consisting of ch. 1-9, which contain an exhibition of wisdom as the highest good.

2. Consisting of ch. 10-24.

3. Containing proverbs of Solomon "which the men of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, collected" (ch. 25-29).

These are followed by two supplements, (1) "The words of Agur" (ch. 30); and (2) "The words of king Lemuel" (ch. 31).

Solomon is said to have written three thousand proverbs, and those contained in this book may be a selection from these (1 Kings 4:32). In the New Testament there are thirty-five direct quotations from this book or allusions to it.

The title of this book in Hebrew is taken from its first word, mashal , which originally meant "a comparison." It is sometimes translated parable, sometimes proverb as here. The superscriptions which are affixed to several portions of the book, in chs. (Proverbs 1:1; 10:1; 25:1) attribute the authorship of those portions to Solomon the son of David, king of Isr'l. With the exception of the last two chapters, which are distinctly assigned to other author it is probable that the statement of the superscriptions is in the main correct, and that the majority of the proverbs contained in the book were uttered or collected by Solomon. Speaking roughly, the book consists of three main divisions, with two appendices-

1. Chs. 1-9 form a connected didactic Wisdom is praised and the youth exhorted to devote himself to her. This portion is preceded by an introduction and title describing the character and general aim of the book.
2. Chs. 10-24 with the title "The Proverbs of Solomon," consist of three parts- (Proverbs 10:1-22; Proverbs 10:16) a collection of single proverbs and detached sentences out of the region of moral teaching and worldly prudence; (Proverbs 22:17-24; Proverbs 22:21) a more connected didactic poem, with an introduction, (Proverbs 22:17-22) which contains precepts of righteousness and prudence; (Proverbs 24:23-34) with the inscription "These also belong to the wise," a collection of unconnected maxims, which serve as an appendix to the preceding. Then follows the third division chs. 25-29, which, according to the superscription, professes to be collection of Solomon's proverbs, consisting of single sentences, which the men of the court of Hezekiah copied out. The first appendix, ch. 30, "The words of Agur the son of Jakeh," is a collection of partly proverbial and partly enigmatical sayings; the second, ch. 31, is divided into two parts, "The words of King Lemuel," vs. 1-6, and an alphabetical acrostic in praise of a virtuous woman, which occupies the rest of the chapter. Who was Agur and who was Jakeh, are questions which have been often asked and never satisfactorily answered. All that can be said of the first is that he was an unknown Hebrew sage, the son of an equally unknown Jakeh, and that he lived after the time of Hezekiah. Lemuel, like Agur, is unknown. It is even uncertain whether he is to be regarded as a real personage, or whether the name is merely symbolical. The Proverbs are frequently quoted or alluded to in the New Testament and the canonicity of the book thereby confirmed. The following is a list of the principal passages-

   (Proverbs 1:16) compare Romans 3:10,15 (Proverbs 3:7) compare Romans 12:16 (Proverbs 3:11,12) compare Hebrews 12:5,6, see also Revelation 3:19 (Proverbs 3:34) compare James 4:6 (Proverbs 10:12) compare 1 Peter 4:8 (Proverbs 11:31) compare 1 Peter 4:18 (Proverbs 17:13) compare Romans 12:17; 1 Thessalonians 5:15; 1 Peter 3:9 (Proverbs 17:27) compare James 1:19 (Proverbs 20:9) compare 1 John 1:8 (Proverbs 20:20) compare Matthew 15:4; Mark 7:10 (Proverbs 22:8) (LXX.), compare 2 Corinthians 9:7 (Proverbs 25:21,22) compare, Romans 12:20 (Proverbs 26:11) compare, 2 Peter 2:22 (Proverbs 27:1) compare, James 4:13,14