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.

complete verse (Exodus 35:26)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 35:26:

  • Kupsabiny: “Some woman who were grateful for this work also made goats hair/wool.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Then all who were willing and skillful women spurned the wool of goat’s hair.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “And the women who knows how to make cloth from the hair of the goat, did this willingly.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “And other women wanted to bring forth their things. They had great knowledge in making needle threads from memes’ hair and so they brought it forth.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • English: “And all the women who wanted to made/spun thread from goats’ hair.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Exod 35:25 - 35:26

And all the women who had ability, literally “And every woman wise of heart,” means “All the skilled women” (Good News Translation), or “The women who were good at weaving cloth” (Contemporary English Version). The same expression is used in 28.3 without specifying either men or women. (See the comment there.) Spun with their hands, literally “by her hands they spun,” refers to the ancient skill of spinning thread or yarn from animal or vegetable fibers. In some modern cultures spinning is still done by hand, so spun with their hands should be retained. But since the spinning was obviously done with their hands, some translations omit these words (Revised English Bible, Translator’s Old Testament). Good News Translation even omits the word spun and assumes it is understood with the word “made.” So and brought what they had spun may be understood as “they brought the thread [or, yarn] which they had made.”

In blue and purple and scarlet stuff is the same formula first used in 25.4. (See the comment there.) And fine twined linen is simply “and the linen,” which probably refers to the “fine linen thread” (Good News Translation) before it was woven into cloth.

All the women whose hearts were moved with ability is literally “and all the women who their heart lifted them up in wisdom.” This may be another way of referring to the same women as in verse 25, but it may also refer to women who specialized in spinning goats’ hair, assuming it took special skill. Good News Translation takes the former view and simply has “They” in reference to those mentioned in verse 25. But New Revised Standard Version has “all the women whose hearts moved them to use their skill,” and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has “all the women who excelled in that skill.” Goats’ hair is literally “goats,” but the hair is understood. (See the comment at 25.4.)

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .