Translation commentary on Proverbs 17:7

This saying contrasts the fool and the prince in their speech.

“Fine speech is not becoming to a fool”: “Fine speech” is literally “lip of excellence,” which would not be suited to “a fool”. Here “a fool” renders a word referring to a low-class person who contributes nothing to society. Such a person is at the other extreme from the “prince” or person of great respect. “Not becoming” means to fail to be fitting, appropriate, or suitable. Bible en français courant says “Distinguished speech does not suit a vulgar person.” New English Bible/Revised English Bible have “Fine talk is out of place in a boor,” where “a boor” means a rude or vulgar person.

“Still less is false speech to a prince”: The verb “becoming” used in the first line serves also in the second. The Hebrew expression rendered “still less” is literally “furthermore” or “indeed”; it commonly expresses a comparison with the sense of “how much more” or “how much less” (see 11.31). Good News Translation does not include this element of comparison, but most other versions do; Contemporary English Version, for example, says “but it’s even worse for. . ..” “False speech” is literally “lying lip” (see 10.18). “Prince” renders a word that normally refers to a noble person of high social rank. See 8.16, where it is rendered “noble.” However, in this context “a prince” contrasts with the vulgar person in line 1 and so refers to someone who is of high or honorable character. Note that Good News Translation uses a plural form, “respected people.” In some languages this is rendered “the people others honor” or “people of the straight path.” We may translate this saying, for example, “Fine words do not suit the mouth of a vulgar person and lies are not suitable in the speech of a respected person” or “It is not fitting for a fool to use high-sounding speech, and in the same way it is not fitting at all for a leader to tell lies.”

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 17:7)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Proverbs 17:7:

  • Kupsabiny: “A foolish person does not have advice (to give)
    and it is not fitting for a ruler to speak lies.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Lying talk is not appropriate for important people,
    Good news is not appropriate from the mouths of fools.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “(It is) not fitting for a fool to speak good words, and even more so (it is) not fitting that a leader/[lit. head] will-lie.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “The pleasant-to-hear words, it is not suitable to the foolish-one, but it is even-more improper if a respected person tells-lies.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • English: “Fine/Eloquent speech is not suitable for foolish people to say,
    just like lies are not suitable for rulers to say.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

SIL Translator’s Notes on Proverbs 17:7

17:7

Notice the parallelism:

7a Eloquent words are unfit for a fool;

7b how much worse are lying lips to a ruler!

This is another example of logical reasoning from the lesser to the greater. (See 11:31 for a list of other examples in Proverbs.) The reasoning is: The situation in 17:7a is inappropriate. The situation in 17:7b is even more inappropriate.

17:7a

Eloquent words are unfit for a fool: In Hebrew, the word Eloquent is literally “excessive.” There are two ways to interpret the word in this context:

(1) This word refers to excellent, fine-sounding speech. For example:

Fine talk is out of place in a boor (Revised English Bible)
-or-
Eloquent words are not fitting for a fool (New Living Translation (2004))

(2) This refers to arrogant speech. For example:

Arrogant lips are unsuited to a fool (New International Version)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1), along with most versions and scholars. Fools are frequently described as arrogant in Proverbs, so arrogant speech would normally be fitting for a fool. By contrast, people do not expect a fool to speak eloquently, so eloquent speech would seem inappropriate for a fool.

are unfit: The phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as are unfit means “unsuitable,” “inappropriate,” or “out of character.”

for a fool: The Hebrew word nabal, which the Berean Standard Bible translates here as fool, describes a person who is morally foolish. In addition, this kind of fool does not believe in God. He acts in a disgraceful way and has no proper sense of shame.

That may be why the Revised English Bible translates this word as “boor” (see the quote above). In English, this word refers to someone with vulgar behavior. Another way to translate this word is:

godless fool (God’s Word)

17:7b

how much worse are lying lips to a ruler: It is inappropriate for a godless fool to use fine-sounding words. So it is even more inappropriate for a ruler to tell lies. The word translated here as ruler refers to someone with high social status, probably someone with a high rank in the government. Some other ways to translate this line are:

but it’s even worse for a ruler to tell lies (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
Lies are even less appropriate for a leader

For more information on ruler, see the note on 8:16b.

© 2012, 2016, 2020 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.