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)
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):
In the Tzeltal translation for the dialectal variant of Highland Tzeltal (Biblia Tzeltal yu’un Oxchuc soc Tenejapa, 2001) the translation team used three different words to translate the Hebrew term that is translated as “wisdom” or “wise” in English. For the verses referenced here, it uses p’ijil-o’tanil or “heart wisdom.”
For the complete story and more background, please see wisdom (Proverbs).
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Proverbs 11:2:
Kupsabiny: “(A) boastful person is despised but the one who humbles self, gets/finds wisdom.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “If one keeps acting with excessive arrogance, one will have to be humiliated. It is good to be humble.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “The one-who-boasts will-put-to-shame, but the one-who- humbles (himself) will-become wise.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “The one who is proud (lit. keeps-making-high his body) will-certainly be-shamed. The humble, he has wisdom.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
English: “People who are proud will eventually be disgraced; it is wise to be humble.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Many languages have sayings very similar to this one referring to the person who is proud. The English version is “Pride goes before a fall.”
“When pride comes, then comes disgrace”: In the Hebrew this line has sounds that recur in each part—baʾ zadon / wayyaboʾ qalon (“Comes pride, then comes shame.”). “Pride” is used by Revised Standard Version in 8.13, where it translates a different word. However, the sense here is the same as there. “Then comes . . .” gives a picture of “pride” and “disgrace” as objects in a sequence: “disgrace follows.” “Disgrace” is seen as the consequence of “pride”. “Disgrace” or shame, as first used in 6.33 (translated “dishonor”), is the opposite of honor.
In some languages “pride” and “disgrace” are expressed in figurative language; for example, “pride” is “going about with the nose in the air” and “disgrace” is “having the eyes on the ground.” In some languages this line may be translated, for example, “If you are a proud person, soon you will be a disgraced person,” “Whoever is proud will become ashamed,” or as in Good News Translation.
“But with the humble is wisdom”: The word rendered “humble” is used only here. Its verb form is used in Micah 6.8 “to walk humbly with your God.” “Humble” or “modest” refers here to a person who does not overestimate himself or herself, that is, does not pretend to be more important than he or she is. The Revised Standard Version wording of this line does not make clear the relation between “wisdom” and being “humble”. The idea is probably best taken as in Good News Translation “It is wiser to be modest.” We may also say, for example, “People who are modest show they have good sense” or, as in Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, “A wise person is modest.”
Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
This proverb contrasts a bad result of pride with a benefit that is associated with humility. Notice the parallel parts that contrast in meaning:
2a When pride comes, then comes disgrace,
2b but with humilitycomes wisdom.
11:2a
When pride comes, disgrace follows: This line means that pride precedes humiliation. In other words, if a person becomes proud, sooner or later he will be humiliated/disgraced. Some ways to translate this line are:
Pride comes first; disgrace soon follows (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
Pride leads only to shame (New Century Version)
-or-
People who are proud will soon be disgraced. (Good News Translation)
11:2b
but with humility comes wisdom: The Hebrew noun that most versions translate as humility occurs only here in the Old Testament. It refers to a person who is modest about his own abilities. Such a person does not overestimate his own importance.
This line means that wisdom accompanies humility/modesty. It does not mean that humility precedes wisdom. However, the exact relationship between wisdom and humility is not clear. Some ways to translate this line are:
it is wise to be humble (New Century Version)
-or-
but wisdom is with those who are unassuming (Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures)
-or-
but the humble person has wisdom
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