עַל־שְׂדֵ֣ה אִישׁ־עָצֵ֣ל עָבַ֑רְתִּי וְעַל־כֶּ֝֗רֶם אָדָ֥ם חֲסַר־לֵֽב׃
30I passed by the field of one who was lazy,
by the vineyard of a stupid person,
The Hebrew that is translated as “lazy person” or “sluggard” or similar in English is translated in Low German as Fuulpelz, an idiomatic term that literally means “someone who wants to rest on an animal hide” (translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1937, republ. 2006).
See also lazy.
The theme of verses 30-34 is the same as in 6.6-11. They are a warning to avoid poverty through a life of self-discipline and working to provide for the necessities of life. They begin with an observation about the state of a lazy person’s land (verses 30-32) and then repeat the words of 6.10-11.
“I passed by the field of a sluggard”: “I passed by” may also be translated “I went through.” This should be expressed in a way that is appropriate in the translator’s culture. In some languages, for example, this verse begins “I was walking around, and I saw. . ..” A “field”, as in verse 27, is an area of land where someone grows crops for food, called a “garden” in some parts of the world. “A sluggard” is an English term rarely used today referring to a lazy person, “one who was lazy” (New Revised Standard Version), “an idle fellow” (Revised English Bible); see 6.6.
“By the vineyard of a man without sense”: This line is parallel with part of the previous line. In Revised Standard Version and some other translations it seems that “the vineyard”, an area of land where someone grows grapes, is the same as “the field”; however, the Hebrew “and the vineyard” suggests that it is a different place. This is made clear in Contemporary English Version “the field and the vineyard” and Good News Translation “the fields and vineyards.” For “a man without sense”, refer to “has no sense” in 6.32. All versions take “a man without sense” to refer to the same person as “a sluggard”, although this is clearer in some versions than in others. Contemporary English Version combines the two terms into “a lazy fool” and Good News Translation is similar.
In verse 31 we have a description of the state of the lazy person’s farmland, introduced by the words “and lo” (New Revised Standard Version “and see”). Some versions do not translate this marker, but others render it as “I looked” (Revised English Bible) or “[I] found them” (Scott). Translators should consider using an exclamation or expression that calls for the reader’s attention, if that would be natural in their language at this point.
“It was all overgrown with thorns”: This is literally “grew up all of it thistles.” New International Version expresses this as “thorns had come up everywhere” and Good News Translation “They were full of thorn bushes”; most others use the expression “overgrown with. . .,” which is commonly used for this situation in English.
“The ground was covered with nettles”: “The ground” is literally “its face” or “its surface.” Some versions omit the term and allow “it” from the previous line to serve as the subject of this clause. The term translated “nettles” refers to a kind of weed, but it is not clear which type of weed this is. Most versions use the general term “weeds”: “covered with weeds.” For both “thorns” and “nettles” translators are encouraged to use the names of weed plants known to their readers or to use more general terms meaning “weeds.”
“And its stone wall was broken down”: The “stone wall” is a fence made of stones that is intended to keep animals and intruders out of the crops. In some languages people say “the wall of stones that goes round it.” “Was broken down” is a passive form, but we cannot say that someone caused this, since the wall had become broken through lack of care. In English Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version both say the wall “had fallen down,” while New International Version says “the stone wall was in ruins.” These are both good models for translators in other languages.
The two lines of verse 32 are parallel and very similar in meaning.
“Then I saw and considered it”: “I saw” refers back to the previous two verses and does not mean that the speaker went and looked a second time. Some versions say “When I saw this” (Contemporary English Version) or “as I looked” (New Living Translation). “Considered” is literally “put my heart [or, mind].” Good News Translation renders this as “thought about it” and Revised English Bible “took it to heart.” A Pacific expression of it is “When I saw this I thought a lot about it.”
“I looked and received instruction”: “I looked” means the same as “I saw”. “Instruction” is the term that basically means “discipline” or “correction”; in Proverbs it is “instruction in wisdom” (15.33). It is the partner of “wisdom” in 1.2 and 1.7. In Revised Standard Version it is usually rendered “instruction”; in this context, however, the most common translation is “learned a lesson” (Scott, New International Version, Good News Translation). Contemporary English Version, which combines the two lines of this verse, says “When I saw this, it taught me a lesson.”
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 .
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Proverbs 24:30:
The Hebrew, Greek, Ge’ez, and Latin that is translated in English typically as “vine” is translated in Lak as къюмайтӀутӀул мурхьра: “the (grape-) cluster tree.”
Vitaly Voinov tells this story: “Laks (who live in the mountainous regions of Dagestan) historically have had no experience with planting and tending vineyards. They buy grapes at the market or the store, but that’s about all they know of grape growing. Thus, in field testing, none of the readers could picture the primary image of this chapter. The translator’s initial attempt of rendering ‘vine’ as ‘grape stalk’ met with complete non-understanding. After much discussion of the problem and potential solutions, we settled on what one of the field testing respondents suggested to remedy the problem: ‘vine’ was rendered as ‘the (grape-)cluster tree’ (къюмайтӀутӀул мурхьра). Technically grapes of course don’t grow on trees, but something had to be put in the text, and it had to be said in a way that the average reader/hearer could understand it. The Lak team could have borrowed the Russian word for ‘vine’ (лоза), but since this is a very low-frequency word in the Russian language, it’s likely that many Laks wouldn’t know the Russian word either. So the team settled for a reduction of accuracy in order to achieve greater clarity. After all, the primary point of importance in this passage is not a horticultural analysis, but a metaphorical comparison to the spiritual world, to the relationship between the Father, His Son, and the followers of Jesus. This rendering allows readers to get to the core of this meaning without getting tangled up in unknown terms.”
In Elhomwe it is translated as “tree of grapes” (source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext), Akan (Fante dialect) and Ewe have “wine tree” (source: Anthony Badu in Journal of Mother-Tongue Biblical Hermeneutics and Theology 2021, p. 88ff. ).
The Common Grape Vine Vitis vinifera is mentioned more often than any other plant or tree in the Bible. Excavations in Greece have discovered grape seeds dating to 4500 B.C. Egyptian records document the existence of cultivated vines in Canaan as early as 2375 B.C., and subsequent records report trade in vine products around 1360 B.C. and many times thereafter.
The vine is a creeping plant that develops a woody stem when it matures. It grows along the ground until it finds a tree or other object to climb, using tendrils. It bears bunches of small round fruit that are sweet and juicy. Today farmers grow them commercially throughout the Mediterranean area, in South Africa, in North America, and in many other countries. The first reference to the vine in the Bible (Genesis 9:20) tells us that Noah planted a vineyard (Hebrew kerem) and that he made an alcoholic drink from the fruit. Farmers since then have improved on the size, color, and quality of the fruit by careful pruning and selection until now there are at least 65 kinds of grapevines. Like many other plants in temperate areas, the vine has leaves that appear in early spring. After the fruit is picked and the weather gets cold, the leaves drop off and the plant is bare until the following spring. A typical vineyard in Bible times was surrounded by a stone fence. It had a stone tower from which the owner could watch for predators, and a place to squeeze the juice out of the fruits.
The vine is the most frequently cited plant in the Bible, and that alone makes it special. Vines, grapes, raisins, and wine were a major element of Jewish life, so it is not a surprise that the vine and its products are used figuratively probably more than any other Bible plant. After the flood purified the earth at the time of Noah, the vine became the means by which the human race was plunged again into sin (Genesis 9:20). We know from Jacob’s blessing in Genesis 49:11f. and other passages that the vine was the symbol of blessing, prosperity, and happiness. The fact that there were groups like the Nazirites and Rechabites who abstained from drinking wine simply shows the radical self-denial that these people imposed on themselves. A drink offering of wine was an important part of worship (Exodus 29:40), and the image of contentment was “every man under his vine and under his fig tree” (Micah 4:4). Jotham includes the vine in his well-known Parable of the Trees (Judges 9:7ff.). In the New Testament, Jesus rescued a man from humiliation at a wedding party by miraculously providing a fresh supply of wine (John 2:1ff.). Wine becomes a major symbol in the Christian community when Jesus foreshadows his crucifixion by comparing the wine poured out in the Passover celebration to his blood (Matthew 26:27f. et al.). He speaks of the need for Christians to be like the branches of the vine, drawing their nourishment from him, the True Vine (John 15.:1ff.). Nearly every New Testament writer makes some metaphorical reference to the vine or its products.
There are around 65 kinds of grapevines (Vitis vinifera) found in the Northern Hemisphere. They belong to a larger family of creeping plants called Vitaceae, which has over 800 species throughout the world including many in the tropical and warm climates of the world.
Grapevines have occasionally been grown in West Africa (for example, in The Gambia and in northern Nigeria) but are not well known even where they are grown commercially. Attempts at substituting a local tree name have not been entirely successful because the species chosen is usually not cultivated and/or does not have the same economic or social function that the grape had in Israel.
Thus it is probably best to use a transliteration from a major language. However, in parts of Nigeria and perhaps elsewhere, the word grep refers to “grapefruit” and should be avoided in translation. A transliteration from “vine” or “wine” is preferred, although a translator needs to be careful. The English word “vine” refers to any creeping plant, but it also refers to a particular kind of vine that produces grapes (Vitis vinifera). This can be confusing. Furthermore, translators in English-speaking countries should think carefully about what they are going to do with the word “wine.” In The Gambia, Mandinka translators first used “wayini tree” but later concluded that it may be better to have a word for “vine” that is not necessarily identical with “wine.” Bine, from binekaro (“vinegar”), was considered, as was inabi (“grape”) from Arabic.
Languages that borrow the Arabic word inabi must deal with the fact that this word bears an unfortunate resemblance to annabi (“prophet”) and new readers reading “water of inabi” in a context of prophecy may associate it, for better or worse, with prophets and prophecy. In northern Nigeria church people have gotten used to inabi in the New Testament even though many of them don’t know what it is. Basa in Nigeria uses a wild grape-like plant (afwafwa), and Igala has used the same species (achiwebetema) for years. Likewise, two translations in Mali and Burkina Faso use their local name for a wild vine (Lannea microcarpa) for the biblical vine. There is a species (Rhoicissus tridentata) in southern and eastern Africa known as “African grape” (locally called “bobbejaantou”). In such cases translators should write a footnote (or glossary item) stating that the grapes of Bible times were larger and sweeter than the local variety, and that they were cultivated extensively as a source for producing beverages. Other possibilities for transliteration are: vinyola/videra (Portuguese), vitis (Latin), and inab (Arabic).
Fruit of the vine (Hebrew ‘enav; Greek botrus, staphulē): There is some evidence that botrus refers to a bunch of grapes, while staphulē refers to individual grapes. According to Louw and Nida (Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains, 1988), however, both words may refer to individual grapes as well as bunches of grapes. The Hebrew word tirosh is equivalent to the word “vintage” in English, that is, the grape harvest and possibly the first squeezing of the grapes. It is normally used along with the words referring to the olive harvest (yitshar) and grain harvest (dagan).
Source: Each According to its Kind: Plants and Trees in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)
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