The Hebrew word translated "proverb"(masal) essentially means a comparison. However through usage it came to mean any profound pronouncement including maxims, observations, sermons (e.g., ch. 5), even wisecracks (cf. Ezek. 18:2), and revelations from God (cf. Ps. 49:4).13Etymologically the English word means "in place of (i.e., for) words."A proverb is usually a succinct statement that stands in place of a long explanation and expresses a truth about reality.
"In its basic form, the proverb is an ancient saying that takes wisdom and endows it with youthful vigor. In a few, piquant phrases the proverb capsulizes a practical idea or truth in such a way as to lift the common-place to a new level of mental consciousness. It reweaves the threadbare idea and shows the ordinary to be quite extraordinary.
"Fundamental to the proverbial form [genre] is the fact that it bears a truth that has been tested by time."14
"The Book of Proverbs has always been regarded as containing the concentrated deposit of ancient Israelite morality."15
