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| First Written | -1500 |
| Genre | Wisdom |
| Origin | Egypt |
| Publisher | internet |
| My Copy | online translation |
| First Read | August 20, 2024 |
Instruction of Amenemope
Picked this up because I’m also reading Proverbs and my ‘cultural background bible’ talks about Amenemope as a parallel text. I love the pithiness here but some really interesting turns of phrase. How do we treasure wisdom? In proverbs we get the injunction to ‘write it on your heart’ and here ‘let it rest in the shrine of your insides’.
Noted on August 20, 2024
Man is clay and straw,
And God is his potter;
He overthrows and he builds daily,
He impoverishes a thousand if He wishes.
He makes a thousand into examiners,
When He is in His hour of life.
How fortunate is he who reaches the West,
When he is safe in the hand of God.
Quoted on August 21, 2024
Do not turn a stranger away from your oil jar
That it may be made double for your family.
God loves him who cares for the poor,
More than him who respects the wealthy.
Quoted on August 21, 2024
Do not be avaricious for copper,
And abjure fine clothes;
What good is one cloaked in fine linen woven as mek,
When he cheats before God.
When gold is heaped upon gold,
At daybreak it turns to lead.
Quoted on August 20, 2024
Give your mind over to their interpretation:
It is profitable to put them in your heart,
But woe to him that neglects them!
Let them rest in the shrine of your insides
That they may act as a lock in your heart.
Quoted on August 20, 2024
The evildoer, throw him in the canal,
And he will bring back its slime.
Quoted on August 20, 2024