>What do you make of the differing word order of Proverbs 1:7 and 9:10?
>1:7 The fear of YHWH is beginning of knowledge
>9:10 Beginning of wisdom is the fear of YHWH
nice question/observation.
The above english clauses, in my opinion, correctly identify the subject
and predicate of their respective clauses. Default order is
subject--predicate, and such would be the preferred reading of the above
verses.
of course, 9.10 continues ... veda`at qedoshim binah
where the parallelistic poetry suggests that da`at qedoshim should be read
by a good reader with "predicate" or "focal" intonation and that bina is
the subject: "... and understanding is to know 'they-he who are-is'
holy."
(see is 5.7 for a famous example of parallelistic reversal of order [a.k.a.
chiasmus].)
for more, i would refer you to an article of mine in the new verbless
clause volume from eisenbraun's (ed. C. Miller)