'This is a major work and very much a scholar's work for scholars; I would not be surprised if it did not achieve international standing on publication. It is more than a commentary, it is a thorough exploration of the Proverb and Wisdom literature in, and around, the Bible, with a fascinating investigation of this kind of writing in Egyptian, and Babylonian and Assyrian sources' (The Scotsman). 'The commentary is detailed, comprehensive, and will fill a gap on many shelves .. any student and preacher of the OT and of the Bible simply cannot afford to be without it. Dr McKane is to be congratulated upon an excellent book—scholarly, original and most attractive to read' (G. Henton Davies in the Baptist Times).