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)

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)

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 .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Proverbs 17:21

17:21

The parallel parts express the same meaning from different perspectives. In Hebrew, they form a chiasm. The parts in 17:21b occur in the opposite order from the parallel parts in 17:21a.

21a
One begets a fool to his own grief ;

21b
does not rejoice the father of a fool.

If a chiasm is not natural in your language, you may need to change the order of the parallel parts. For example, the New Century Version changes the order of the parts in 17:21a. It has:

21a
It is sad to have a foolish child

The New Jerusalem Bible changes the order of the parts in 17:21b. It has:

21b
the father of a fool knows no joy

17:21a

A man fathers a fool to his own grief: In Hebrew, the phrase fathers a fool is literally “⌊one who⌋ begets a fool.” Some English versions express the meaning in a similar way. For example:

He who sires a fool (English Standard Version)
-or-
He who fathers a stupid child (New Jerusalem Bible)

The author of Proverbs focused on the relationship between a father and his son, because that was appropriate in his cultural context. The verse does not imply that the mother of a fool felt no grief. It also does not imply that foolish daughters caused their parents no grief.

In some languages, it may be more appropriate to use gender-neutral terms such as parent(s) and child/children. For example:

Stupid offspring bring sorrow to parents (Revised English Bible)
-or-
The parent of a fool has grief (God’s Word)

Use natural terms in your language to express these relationships.

17:21b

the father of a fool has no joy: Another way to translate this line is:

and the father of a godless fool has no joy (God’s Word)

General Comment on 17:21a–b

The words that the Berean Standard Bible translates as “a fool” in 17:21a and 17:21b are different words in Hebrew.

The word in 17:21a refers to a person who does what is stupid and wrong because he is mentally lazy.

The word in 17:21b refers to a person who acts in a way that is rude or shameless.

Some English versions use different terms in each line. For example:

stupid…boorish (Revised English Bible)
-or-
a stupid child…a fool (New Jerusalem Bible)

Other versions use the same term in both lines. In this context, both terms refer to the same person.

In some languages, it may be more natural to reorder and/or combine the parallel parts. For example:

It’s never pleasant to be the parent of a fool and have nothing but pain. (Contemporary English Version)

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