# Counsels of Wisdom

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**Counsels of Wisdom** is a piece of [Babylonian](/source/Babylonia) [wisdom literature](/source/Wisdom_literature) written in [Akkadian](/source/Akkadian_language)[1] containing moral exhortations.[2] It is composed primarily of two-line units,[3] without sections.[4] A translation of extant portions of the text was published in Lambert 1996. Existing manuscripts are fragmentary, but the original was estimated to be about 160 lines.[2]

## Date of authorship

Scholars disagree on the date of the work. Gemser and [Frans de Liagre Böhl](/source/Frans_de_Liagre_B%C3%B6hl) placed it in the [First Dynasty](/source/First_Babylonian_Dynasty),[5] but Lambert believes it should be dated to the [Kassite period](/source/Kassites).[6] The work is attested primarily by a stone tablet written in Late [Babylonian script](/source/Cuneiform_script#Assyrian_cuneiform).[6]

## Comparison with other wisdom literature

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.[2] Scholars have observed several pieces of ancient wisdom literature to be similar, including the [Instructions of Shuruppak](/source/Instructions_of_Shuruppak), [Counsels of a Pessimist](/source/Counsels_of_a_Pessimist), and the [Hymn to Šamaš](https://archive.org/details/jstor-527573) . Together these works were an ancient [genre](/source/Genre).[6] Similarities have been noticed with the [Book of Proverbs](/source/Book_of_Proverbs), but no literary dependence has been found.[7] 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.[2] The work may have influenced the *[Wisdom of Ahiqar](/source/Wisdom_of_Ahiqar)*.[8]

## Kindness to Evildoers

Biblical scholar John Nolland sees a passage in the *Counsels of Wisdom* as a possible precursor to [Jesus](/source/Jesus)' command to "[love your enemies](/source/Love_your_enemies)": "Do not return evil to the man who disputes with you; requite with kindness your evil-doer... smile on your adversary."[9]

## See also

- [Akkadian literature](/source/Akkadian_literature)
- [Wisdom literature](/source/Wisdom_literature)

## Notes

1. Kitchen 1977, p. 114.

1. Lambert 1996, p. 96.

1. Kitchen 1977, p. 88.

1. Kitchen 1977, p. 86.

1. Böhl, Frans Marius Theodor de Liagre (1942). ["De zonnegod als de beschermer der nooddruftigen"](https://archive.org/details/JEOL8/page/n54/mode/1up) [The sun god as the protector of the poor] (in Dutch). *Jaarbericht Ex Oriente Lux*. **8**: 665-680, at p. 670. Leiden: Vooraziatisch-Egyptisch Gezelschap. [ISSN 0075-2118](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0075-2118). [OCLC 643516029](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/643516029)[verification needed]

1. Lambert 1996, p. 97.

1. Whybray 2009, p. 51.

1. Greenstein 2022, p. 307.

1. Nolland 2005, p. 265.

## References

- Greenstein, Edward L. (2022). ["Wisdom in Mesopotamia in relation to von Rad's *Wisdom in Israel*"](https://books.google.com/books?id=UaWYEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA307). *Gerhard von Rad and the Study of Wisdom Literature*. Ancient Israel and its literature. Sandoval, Timothy J. & Schipper, Bernd U. (eds.). Atlanta: SBL Press. pp. 287–320. ISBN 978-1-62837-450-6.
- Barré, Michael L. (1981). ""Fear of God" and the World View of Wisdom". *[Biblical Theology Bulletin](/source/Biblical_Theology_Bulletin)*. **11** (2): 41–43. SAGE Publications. [doi:10.1177/014610798101100203](https://doi.org/10.1177/014610798101100203). [S2CID 170183050](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:170183050)
- Kitchen, Kenneth A. (1977). ["Proverbs and wisdom books of the ancient Near East: the factual history of a literary form"](https://web.archive.org/web/20120518222712/http://98.131.162.170//tynbul/library/TynBull_1977_28_03_Kitchen_ProverbsANEWisdom.pdf). *[Tyndale Bulletin](/source/Tyndale_Bulletin)*. **28**: 69–114. [doi:10.53751/001c.30617](https://doi.org/10.53751/001c.30617). Archived from [the original](http://98.131.162.170/tynbul/library/TynBull_1977_28_03_Kitchen_ProverbsANEWisdom.pdf) on 18 May 2012. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
- Lambert, Wilfred G. (1996 [1960]). [*Babylonian Wisdom Literature*](https://books.google.com/books?id=vYuRDcieF2EC&pg=PA96). Eisenbrauns. pp. 96–107. ISBN 978-0-931464-94-2.
- Nolland, John (2005). [*The Gospel of Matthew: A commentary on the Greek text*](https://books.google.com/books?id=9cL_kpdUE-oC&pg=PA265). [The New International Greek Testament Commentary](/source/The_New_International_Greek_Testament_Commentary). Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0-8028-2389-2.
- Whybray, R.N. (2009). [*Wisdom in Proverbs: The Concept of Wisdom in Proverbs 1-9*](https://books.google.com/books?id=FFRMAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA51). Studies in Biblical Theology, First Series. Wipf & Stock Publishers. ISBN 978-1-60899-019-1.

## Further reading

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

## External links

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

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