“The sluggard buries his hand in the dish”: “Sluggard”, referring to a lazy person, first occurs in 6.6. “Buries” renders a word also meaning to hide or conceal. In this example the lazy person puts his hand into the dish and leaves it there because he is too lazy to take out food and carry it to his mouth (see next line). This saying is expressed in exaggerated terms to ridicule the lazy person. The scene assumes a family meal with a dish of food into which each person dips his hand to remove some of the food.

“And will not even bring it back to his mouth”: “It” refers to his hand. We may also say, for example, “and he doesn’t even lift his hand to his mouth to eat.” Note that Good News Translation shortens this saying and avoids the image of the person sitting by the dish with his hand in it. The result is a total loss of humor. Contemporary English Version likewise generalizes and thereby sacrifices the comic element: “Some people are too lazy to lift a hand to feed themselves.” Bible en français courant keeps the full force of the image: “A lazy person plunges his hand into the plate, but doesn’t have the power to bring it to his mouth.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .