witness

The Hebrew, Ge’ez, and and Greek that is translated as “witness” in English is translated in these ways:

  • “truly have seen” in Highland Popoluca
  • “telling the truth regarding something” in Eastern Highland Otomi
  • “know something” in Lalana Chinantec
  • “verily know something to be the truth” in San Mateo del Mar Huave
  • “we ourselves saw this” in Desano
  • “tell the truth about something” in Eastern Highland Otomi
  • “know something is true because of seeing it” in Teutila Cuicatec (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • “ones who will confirm that these-things that you have seen are true” in Kankanaey (source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • “ones who are to testify about these things, because it all happened before your eyes” in Tagbanwa (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Proverbs 21:28

This saying is probably about witnessing in court. The two lines are parallel and are generally taken as a contrast between a false witness and a reliable witness.

“A false witness will perish”: “A false witness” is literally “a witness of lies” and means a person who tells lies in court. “Will perish” is generally taken as the fate or the punishment of the false witness; this makes the line almost identical with the first line of 19.5 and 19.9, which have “will not go unpunished” as the verb. Contemporary English Version renders the whole expression, “If you tell lies in court, you are done for.” But some versions give the verb a different sense, in contrast with the way they understand the matching term “will endure” in the next line. This sense is that the person will not be allowed to speak any more or will not be accepted as a believable witness; for instance, Good News Translation says, “The testimony of a liar is not believed” and Revised English Bible “A lying witness will be cut short.” See the comments on “will endure” below.

“But the word of a man who hears will endure”: The Hebrew of this line is literally “but a man who hears will speak for ever.” New Revised Standard Version renders “a man who hears” as “a good listener”; other versions take the expression either in the sense of someone who has listened carefully and is therefore able to give a truthful testimony (Revised English Bible “a truthful witness,” Contemporary English Version “a reliable witness”), or as meaning someone who thinks about what he or she hears (Good News Translation “someone who thinks matters through”). The last part of the line, “will speak for ever,” may also be understood as “will speak to the end” or “will speak for a long time.” This is seen as a contrast with the “false witness” of the previous line, whose word will be stopped; so Revised English Bible has “. . . will speak on,” New Jerusalem Bible “no one who . . . will ever be silenced,” and New Revised Standard Version “. . . will testify successfully.”

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 21:28)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Proverbs 21:28:

  • Kupsabiny: “A person who ties words (makes false accusations) in the council/court is hated/refused,
    and the person who tells the truth is loved/accepted.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “No one will listen to a person who gives false witness,
    But, everyone loves the words spoken with integrity
    (having done their conscience).” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “A lying witness is no-longer allowed-to-speak, but a witness who tells the truth will-be-allowed/[lit. keep-going/continue] to-speak.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “A lying witness will-be-caused-to-stop, but the one who listens properly, then speaks, will-be-believed.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • English: “Those who tell lies in court will be punished;
    no one stops/silences witnesses who say what is truthful/reliable.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

SIL Translator’s Notes on Proverbs 21:28

21:28

This proverb contrasts a false witness with a reliable witness who is a careful listener. The false witness will perish. The testimony of the reliable witness will be accepted as true.

28a
A lying witness will perish,

28b but the man who listens to truth will speak forever.

21:28a

A lying witness will perish: There are two ways to interpret the subject of the verb will perish :

(1) The lying witness himself will perish. He will be punished either by the court or by God. For example:

A lying witness will die (God’s Word)
-or-
A false witness is doomed (Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures)

(2) The testimony of the lying witness will perish. Either he will not be allowed to finish testifying or his testimony will not be accepted as true. For example:

The testimony of a liar is not believed (Good News Translation)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). The idea that a false witness will be punished is repeated twice in Proverbs (see 19:5 and 19:9). There are no examples elsewhere in the OT where the phrase “lying/false witness” refers to the words that the false witness speaks. Nor are there examples elsewhere where the words of a false witness “will perish.”

21:28b

but the man who listens to truth will speak forever: In Hebrew, this clause is literally “but/and a person who listens will speak forever.” There are two main ways to interpret this clause:

(1) This clause refers to a reliable witness who listens carefully before he gives his own evidence in a legal case. It implies that what he says will not agree with the testimony of the false witness. This person’s evidence will be accepted as true and permanent. For example:

but a good listener will testify successfully (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
but the word of a man who hears will endure (English Standard Version)

(2) This clause refers to someone who listens to the false witness. It implies that what he says agrees with the testimony of the false witness. This person, like the false witness, will be permanently destroyed. For example:

and whoever listens to him will be destroyed forever (New International Version)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). None of the scholars or other versions used in preparing these Notes supported interpretation (2).

the man who listens to truth: In Hebrew, this phrase is literally “a person who listens.” In this context, it implies that a witness carefully listens and thinks about what he has heard. It may also imply that the witness truly heard what he reports.

The verse does not make explicit what the witness listens to. It may refer to statements that he has heard in court. It may also refer to things that he heard or observed that are related to the case.

will speak forever: In this context, the word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as forever probably implies that the testimony of a reliable witness will be permanently accepted as the truth. He will speak forever in the sense that what he says will win the case. The phrase may also imply that he will be allowed to give his full testimony. He will not be silenced or kept from testifying.

Some versions make one or more of these implications explicit. For example:

but no one who knows how to listen will ever be silenced (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
but a credible witness will be allowed to speak (New Living Translation (2004))

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