Shoreshthe drift report · all case files
Case file

Book of Proverbs

Wikipedia's first sentence called it “book in the third section”. Today it says “second book in the third section of the hebrew bible and a book in the christian old testament”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2005 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since. Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now. 1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2005

Book of Proverbs is a book of the Tanach / Old Testament . It is a collection of moral and philosophical maxims on a wide range of subjects presented in a poetic form. This book sets forth a philosophy of practical life, and is a compilation and adaptation of common sayings. It is clear that the author of the book gathered and recast many proverbs which sprang from human experience in preceding 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. In particular, there is strong evidence that some of the proverbs were adapted from earlier Egyptian wisdom literature. And it is very possible that the book of Proverbs developed somewhat over time, with latter editors adding sayings as they went along. This book is usually divided into three parts: ch. 1 – 9, which contain an exhibition of wisdom as the highest good. ch. 10 – 24, a collection of "the proverbs of Solomon " ch. 25 – 29, another collection of "proverbs of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied" These are followed by three supplements "The words of Agur" (ch. 30); and "The words to king Lemuel" (ch. 31,1–9). The praise of the good wife (ch. 31,10–31) The tradition ascribing some proverbs to Solomon, described as "without valid foundation" in the Jewish Encyclopedia, 1901-06, continued nevertheless to be uncritically accepted among many Christians, who aver that 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). Jewish tradition attributes the entire book to "the men of Hezekiah", as attested by the word "too" in the verse, "these too are the proverbs of Solomon which" etc. (Source: Babylonian Talmud , tractate Bava Bathra 15a). In the New Testament there are thirty-five direct quotations from this book or allusions to it. Quotes: `I am Wisdom,I am better than jewels,Nothing you want can compare with me.(8:11)1

This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 15902660.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “book in the third section”. Today it says “second book in the third section of the hebrew bible and a book in the christian old testament”. Read the current article and compare.
2005201020152020Oct '232025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.

What Wikipedia says this is

Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since October 7, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.

Then

book in the third section

Now

second book in the third section of the hebrew bible and a book in the christian old testament

Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.

← back to the drift report