happiness / joy

The Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that is typically translated in English as “joy” or “happiness” is translated in the Hausa Common Language Bible idiomatically as farin ciki or “white stomach.” In some cases, such as in Genesis 29:11, it is also added for emphatic purposes.

Other languages that use the same expression include Southern Birifor (pʋpɛl), Dera (popolok awo), Reshe (ɾipo ɾipuhã). (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)

See also Seat of the Mind / Seat of Emotions, rejoiced greatly / celebrated, the Mossi translation of “righteous”, and joy.

complete verse (Proverbs 17:21 in Southern Sotho)

This verse is translated in the Southern Sotho Bibele of 1989 as

Ya tswalang sethoto
o itswalla ditsietsi,
ntata sethoto o hloka thabo.

Or

He who begets a fool,
begets troubles,
the father of a fool lacks happiness

The Hebrew text contains synonymous parallelism and word pairs: “he who begets a fool” and “father of a fool”; to his grief and does not enjoy. In other words, synonymous parallelism and word pairs in this example are the main systemic features of orality identified in the Hebrew text. [In the Southern Sotho translation] the poetic nature, including the parallelisms and word pairs, are well presented in a poetic format:

Ya tswalang sethoto/he who begets a fool = ntata sethoto/father of a fool
o itswalla ditsietsi/begets troubles to himself = o hloka thabo/he lacks joy.

In simpler terms, he who begets is the father, and by begetting a fool, a father creates troubles for himself, and will never be happy in life.

(Source: Tshokolo J. Makutoane in Religions 2024, 15(2), p. 190)

Translation commentary on Proverbs 17:21

“A stupid son is a grief to a father”: This line begins literally “The one who fathers a fool. . ..” “A stupid son” renders the commonly used word for “fool.” It occurs some fifty times in Proverbs and means someone who is slow-witted intellectually, as well as morally inadequate. Note that Good News Translation shifts to the plural “children.” “Grief”, the same word as in 14.13, means “sorrow” or “sadness,” the opposite of joy. Although “a father” in this line is masculine singular, many translators prefer to be inclusive and plural. Revised English Bible has “Stupid offspring bring sorrow to parents.”

“And the father of a fool has no joy”: This line is identical in sense to the first line. The word “fool” here translates a different Hebrew word and some argue that the word in this line refers to someone who is a fool in the religious sense, that is, a person who thinks in a wrong and foolish way about God. However, there is no evidence to show that a difference in meaning is intended. “Has . . . joy” represents the same Hebrew verb used in 10.1, where it is rendered “makes . . . glad.”

It may be desirable in some languages to speak of “father” in both lines as “parent” or “elders,” or even to reduce the two lines to one, as in Good News Translation. Some translations, like Revised Standard Version, keep “father” in both lines. Others have “father” in the first line and “parents” in the second. All of these are possible.

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 .

complete verse (Proverbs 17:21)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Proverbs 17:21:

  • Kupsabiny: “A person with a foolish son is never happy,
    and an arrogant/insolent son does not make his father happy.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “For the father of a fool
    there is nothing but sorrow,
    never any delight.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Sadness and painful a parent would fell for his foolish child.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “The foolish child, no happiness is what he gives to his father but rather sorrow.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • English: “Children who are foolish soon cause their parents to be very sad;
    their parents will not be joyful at all.” (Source: Translation for Translators)