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The word chidah is once translated 'proverb,' Hab. 2: 6 but is often translated 'riddle.' It signifies 'problem,' a hidden mode of speaking, which conceals the sense under figurative expressions. The parable of the great eagle in Ezek. 17: 2, 3, is also called a 'riddle.' The word commonly translated 'proverb,' and used for the Book of Proverbs is mashal, signifying 'comparison, similitude.' Proverbs are short sentences calculated to arrest attention and be retained in the memory. Deut. 28: 37; 1 Sam. 24: 13; Ps. 69: 11; Prov. 1: 1; Ecc.
12: 9; Isa. 14: 4; Jer. 24: 9; Ezek. 12: 22, 23; Ezek. 18: 2, 3; etc. In
the N.T. are the words
1, παραβολή, 'a similitude, comparison.' In the A.V. this is only once translated 'proverb,' Luke 4: 23; but is often translated 'parable.'
2, παροιμία: this is more an obscure saying, John 16: 25, 29; 2 Peter 2: 22; it is translated 'parable' in John 10: 6, but 'allegory' would be a better rendering.