On Self-Restraint and Building Fences: A Note on LXX Proverbs 28:4 and Rabbinic Parlance

Johann Cook has argued that LXX's formulation of Prov 28:4 involves the use of an idiom attested in other Jewish sources of antiquity (Hebrew and Greek) and, accordingly, is indicative of Jewish, rather than Hellenistic, influence. In his recent studies of Proverbs, Michael V. Fox, while noting Cook's position, maintains that LXX's rendering reflects a Hebrew Vorlage which is the result of dittography. The present essay reexamines the positions proffered by both Cook and Fox. In so doing, a more precise Hebrew analogue to LXX's formulation is proposed, as well as an alternative explanation of the factors informing the reading of LXX's presumed Vorlage.