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 (Job 13:5)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 13:5:

  • Kupsabiny: “It is better if you keep quiet,
    and then one will think that you are actually wise!” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “It would be good if you would keep quiet,
    then people might think you are wise.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “(It is) better if all of you (plur.) will- just -keep-silent. That is the best-thing you (plur.) could do.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “It is as though your sins are telling you what to say;
    you talk like people who will not admit that they are wicked.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)

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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Job 13:5

Oh that you would keep silent: Job concludes this section on the contrast of his wisdom with that of his friends by suggesting that silence on their part would show them to be wise. It is the wisdom suggested in Proverbs 17.28: “Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise.”

And it would be your wisdom is literally “and that it may be wisdom to you.” It refers to keeping silent in the previous line. Good News Translation has restructured this verse so that wisdom is a verb which requires a subject, “someone may think you are wise,” which expresses the idea clearly. Verse 5 may also be expressed, for example, “I wish you would keep silent and show you are wise,” or by reversing the two lines, “I wish you would show that you are wise by not saying anything.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, Wiliam. A Handbook on Job. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .