The Instruction of Amenemope
An Egyptian teaching whose words run, line for line, alongside a passage in the book of Proverbs.
Also: Amenemope · Amenemopet · Instruction of Amenemope · Amenemope and Proverbs · Proverbs 22:17 · thirty sayings · Papyrus BM 10474
The Instruction of Amenemope is an Egyptian wisdom text of the Ramesside age, teaching humility, contentment, honesty, and trust in god over scheming and greed. It is especially famous because part of it runs strikingly parallel to a section of the biblical book of Proverbs (22:17–24:22). Scholars widely accept a real literary relationship; most regard the Egyptian text as the older side, though the exact mechanism of the connection is debated.
In short
A New Kingdom (Ramesside-era) wisdom instruction ascribed to Amenemope, notable for its reflective, pious tone and for a close, scholarly-accepted literary parallel to a section of the biblical book of Proverbs.
Where it’s found
The Instruction of Amenemope (Late Egyptian; principal manuscript Papyrus BM 10474)
Read it in the Egyptian texts
The passages in our corpus where this idea is discussed — each opens in our reader with the Egyptian transliteration and the English translation side by side.
How the idea developed across Egypt
A Late Egyptian instruction of the Ramesside period (the main manuscript, Papyrus BM 10474, is later); its 'thirty chapters' and parallels to Proverbs 22:17–24:22 have been central to biblical–Egyptian comparison since the 1920s.
Amenemope is a traditional ascription. The Proverbs parallel is real and scholarly-accepted; Egypt is generally held to be the older side, but the precise direction/mechanism is debated — present neutrally, never as 'the Bible copied Egypt' or its inverse.