[1][2] The book is a compilation of several wisdom literature collections, with the heading in 1:1 may be intended to regard Solomon as the traditional author of the whole book, but the dates of the individual collections are difficult to determine, and the book probably obtained its final shape in the post-exilic period.

[8] There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BC; some extant ancient manuscripts of this version include Codex Vaticanus (B;

[10] Based on differences in style and subject-matter there could be two originally separate collections:[10] The king who judges the poor with truth, His throne will be established forever.

[16] Methodist commentator Joseph Benson makes the point that a king who judges the poor "faithfully" (the word used in the King James Version) also judges the rich "faithfully", but he argues that the proverb "names the poor, because these are much oppressed and injured by others, and least regarded by princes, and yet committed to their more especial care".

[18] This final verse of chapter 29 has additional words in the Latin Vulgate, Verbum custodiens filius extra perditionem erit, which appear in some versions of the Septuagint after Proverbs 24:22,[19] and are translated in the Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition as "The son that keepeth the word, shall be free from destruction".