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.

complete verse (Ezekiel 28:5)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 28:5:

  • Kupsabiny: “You uses the knowledge trade to get great wealth, and that wealth made you become a proud person.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “By your ability also in making-business, your wealth increased more, and because of your wealth you became-proud.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Yes, it is true that by trading wisely, you have been enabled to become very rich,
    and because you are rich, you have become very proud.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 28:5

By your great wisdom in trade you have increased your wealth: God stresses the king of Tyre’s wisdom by repeating it here, adding the detail that he had “great skill in trading” (New International Reader’s Version), that is, he was a “clever businessman” (Contemporary English Version), and he used his business skills to become even richer. There is a nice play on words here in Hebrew, which is literally “By the bigness of your skill in trading you made big your wealth.” Translators will do well if they can reflect this wordplay in their renderings. In some languages they will need to restructure these two lines, for example, “You know how to do business very well. That is how you became so wealthy [or, rich].”

And your heart has become proud in your wealth: Here God returns to the king’s sin of pride (see Ezek 28.2). This line means the king has become very rich and has started boasting about it (compare Contemporary English Version “your wealth has led to arrogance”). Probably he claimed all the credit for himself. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch uses idiomatic language here, saying “But your riches have gone to your head; you are arrogant.” Another possible model is “You have become very proud because you are so rich.”

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .