wisdom

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The Hebrew, Aramaic, Ge’ez, Latin, and Greek that is translated as “wisdom” in English is rendered in various ways:

  • Amganad Ifugao / Tabasco Chontal: “(big) mind”
  • Bulu / Yamba: “heart-thinking”
  • Tae’: “cleverness of heart” (source for this and all above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Palauan: “bright spirit (innermost)” (source: Bratcher / Hatton)
  • Ixcatlán Mazatec: “with your best/biggest thinking” (source: Robert Bascom)
  • Noongar: dwangka-boola, lit. “ear much” (source: Portions of the Holy Bible in the Nyunga language of Australia, 2018 — see also remember)
  • Kwere “to know how to live well” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
  • Dobel: “their ear holes are long-lasting” (in Acts 6:3) (source: Jock Hughes)
  • Gbaya: iŋa-mgbara-mɔ or “knowing-about-things” (note that in comparison to that, “knowledge” is translated as iŋa-mɔ or “knowing things”) (source: Philip Noss in The Bible Translator 2001, p. 114ff. )
  • Chichewa: nzeru, meaning both “knowledge” and “wisdom” (source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
  • Uma: “clearness” (source: Uma Back Translation)

In Hungarian Sign Language it is translated with a hand gesture referring to God to indicate a human quality to communicate that wisdom does not originate from man but is linked to and connected with the fear of God (source: Jenjelvi Biblia and Andrea Bokros):


“Wisdom” in Hungarian Sign Language (source )

See also wisdom (Proverbs) and knowledge.

Translation commentary on Baruch 3:12

For this verse compare Jer 2.13 and 17.13.

This verse is the answer to the four questions asked in verses 10-11. Good News Translation makes this clear with “It is because….” The image of the fountain is that of a spring of fresh water, welling out of the ground or a mountainside. The writer is making the point that God’s Law, the Torah, gushes forth wisdom like a mountainside spring gushes fresh, pure water. Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version are essentially giving up the figure of speech with the word “source” (although “spring of water” is in fact one meaning of the English word “source”).

Throughout this passage Good News Translation consistently capitalizes the word wisdom (also Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). This is because Wisdom seems to be personified (regarded as a person) in this passage, much as in Pro 8–9 and Sir 24, although not as obviously. The distinction between Wisdom as a personified figure of speech and “wisdom” as an ordinary noun is not made in the original text, of course. It is a decision forced on translators into English and many other languages by modern conventions of punctuation. Related to this is the matter of the pronoun used to refer back to Wisdom. The Greek uses the feminine pronoun, consistently referring to Wisdom as “she” and “her,” since the Greek noun for “wisdom” is feminine gender. Some translations follow this, not necessarily because they are translating literally, but because of the personification involved. In English it is difficult to remove the figure of speech completely from this passage and refer to wisdom as “it,” although in many languages this will be quite natural style. Translators may find it helpful, however, to occasionally make clear who the discourse is about by using “Wisdom” in place of a pronoun. In this present verse something like the following rendering will capture the meaning:

• You have turned away from God, the fountain [or, source] of Wisdom.

However, in languages where it is impossible to treat wisdom as a person, we may say the following:

• You have turned away from God, the source of all wisdom [or, the only source of wisdom].

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Shorter Books of the Deuterocanon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2006. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.