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)
  • Kako: “heart thinking” (source: Reyburn 2002, p. 190)

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 HSL Bible Translation Group):


“Wisdom” in Hungarian Sign Language (source )

See also wisdom (Proverbs) and knowledge.

Translation commentary on Baruch 3:9

Hear … O Israel: This familiar phrase from Deut 5.1 and 6.4 opens the poem in Greek; Revised Standard Version has separated the two elements. The admonition Hear is typical also of Wisdom writing; compare Pro 1.8 and 4.1. It is possible that the writer is consciously joining the Torah tradition (“Hear, O Israel…”) with the Wisdom tradition here. Hear means “Listen carefully” (Contemporary English Version) or “Pay careful attention to.”

The commandments of life are the commandments that offer life to those who keep them. Good News Translation has “the commands that promise life.” The translator should notice that Baruch is not going to recite any such commandments. In fact, no such commandments follow anywhere in the book. Rather, he is referring his readers to the Torah, the Law of Israel. Moore asserts that life here means more than physical life, more than long life; it is talking about “the quality of life” or “living a full and happy life.” He refers to Pro 4.20-23 and Rom 7.9-10.

Give ear, and learn wisdom: Give ear can be accurately rendered “pay attention,” as in Good News Translation, but in this context it means more precisely “pay attention to them,” that is, to the commandments that give life, since line two is simply reinforcing the statement in line one. In Pro 8 Wisdom, who is pictured there as a woman, calls on people to listen to what she has to say. In Pro 1.8 the young man is called on to listen to his father’s instruction. But here the reader is not being urged to listen and learn from the wise words that follow, but to listen to the Law, and learn wisdom from it. Good News Translation interprets this as a promise: “you will become wise.” Moore interprets wisdom with a slight twist, saying “learn what wisdom means.” The renderings of Good News Translation and Moore could be profitably joined as follows: “you will know what it means to be wise [or, what being wise really means].” In any case, “know” is just as adequate a translation of the Greek verb here as learn.

An alternative model for this verse is:

• Listen carefully, people of Israel, to God’s commandments. They lead you to a full and happy life, and show you what being wise really means.

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.