מָשָׁל

1. proverbial saying, brief terse sentence of popular sagacity 1Sam 10:12; Ezek 12:22; Ezek 12:23; Ezek 18:2; Ezek 18:3 הַקַדְמֹנִי ׳מ 1Sam 24:14 proverb of the ancients.

2. by-word Ps 44:15; Ps 69:12 לְמָשָׁל וְלִשְׁנִינָה Deut 28:37; 1Kgs 9:7; 2Chr 7:20; Jer 24:9 לְאוֺת וּלְמָשָׁל Ezek 14:8

3. prophetic figurative discourse: נָשָׂא מָשָׁל lift up, utter a ׳מ Num 23:7; Num 23:18; Num 24:3; Num 24:15; Num 24:20; Num 24:21; Num 24:23 (all of Balaam); Isa 14:4; Mic 2:4 (|| נהי) Hab 2:6 (|| חידה), (compare Job 27:1; Job 29:1 for same phrase under 6).

4. similitude, parable, Ezek 17:2; Ezek 21:5; Ezek 24:3.

5. poem, of various kinds: the ode (Num 21:27-30), the 3,000 pieces traditionally ascribed to Solomon 1Kgs 5:12, didactic psalms Ps 49:5; Ps 78:2.

6. sentences of ethical wisdom דִּבְרֵי חֲכָמִים collected in the מִשְׁלֵי שְׁלֹמֹה Prov 10:1; Prov 25:1 (Prov 10:1-22:16 consisting of 376 couplets chiefly antithetical; Prov 25:1-29:200 chiefly couplets of an emblematic type, but also occasional tristichs, tetrastichs, pentastichs, and decastichs. To these are appended דְּבָרִים of a more mixed character as to size and content Prov 30:1-14 vProv 30:15-33; Prov 31:1-9 vProv 31:10-31 the Praise of Wisdom Prov 1:8-9 is prefixed, and an introduction to the whole Prov 1:1-7, in which the whole contents are represented as) משׁלים Prov 1:1, compare vProv 1:6. The references in Job 13:12; Job 27:1; Job 29:1; Prov 26:7; Prov 26:9; Eccl 12:9 are to the same type of wisdom.