Verses 7 and 8 expand the reason given in verse 6 by naming additional acts the Lord does for the upright.
“He stores up sound wisdom for the upright”: “Stores up” translates the verb rendered “treasure up” in verse 1. “Sound wisdom” renders a word that is found in Isa 28.29 and Micah 6.9, but otherwise only in Job and Proverbs. There is some doubt about the precise meaning of the word. Toy suggests that the sense is the power to act, achieve, help, or deliver, and favors the last of these as a match for “shield” in the next line. Modern versions have a variety of renderings such as “ability,” “success,” “advice,” “counsel,” and “victory.” Bible en français courant, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Good News Translation, and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch all say “help.” Contemporary English Version has “helpful advice” and adds “or wisdom” in its footnote. In light of “shield” in the parallel line, a word such as “help,” “protection,” or “deliverance” seems appropriate.
In many languages to “store up” good sense, help, or deliverance may make little or no sense. The thought to be translated is that the Lord makes these available and provides or gives them to “the upright”. “The upright” refers to persons who conform their lives to right conduct or who live as they should. The word is used in Job 1.1 to describe the moral character of Job.
“He is a shield to those who walk in integrity”: “A shield” is an image of protection and defense. This image must sometimes be stated as a simile, for example, “The Lord is like a shield.” In languages in which shields are unknown, it is often necessary to replace the actual image with the idea the “shield” represents; for example, “He protects” or “He defends.”
“Those who walk in integrity” matches “the upright” in the first line. “Integrity” translates a word meaning “perfect,” “complete,” or “blameless.” “Walk in” followed by an abstract quality is commonly used in the Old Testament to mean to live or to conduct yourself in a particular way. Here the sense is as in Psa 26.1 “do what is right” or “live in the right way.” Good News Translation calls such people “honest.” Contemporary English Version has “who live as they should.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch says “All who follow him [the Lord] with sincere hearts find in him protection and help.” In some languages figures are used; for example, “He helps those who walk straight paths, and he defends those who go about with one heart.”
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 .
God transcends gender, but most languages are limited to grammatical gender expressed in pronouns. In the case of English, this is traditionally confined to “he” (or in the forms “his,” “him,” and “himself”), “she” (and “her,” “hers,” and “herself”), and “it” (and “its” and “itself”).
Modern Mandarin Chinese, however, offers another possibility. Here, the third-person singular pronoun is always pronounced the same (tā), but it is written differently according to its gender (他 is “he,” 她 is “she,” and 它/牠 is “it” and their respective derivative forms). In each of these characters, the first (or upper) part defines the gender (man, woman, or thing/animal), while the second element gives the clue to its pronunciation.
In 1930, after a full century with dozens of Chinese translations, Bible translator Wang Yuande (王元德) coined a new “godly” pronoun: 祂. Chinese readers immediately knew how to pronounce it: tā. But they also recognized that the first part of that character, signifying something spiritual, clarified that each person of the Trinity has no gender aside from being God.
While the most important Protestant and Catholic Chinese versions respectively have opted not to use 祂, some Bible translations do and it is widely used in hymnals and other Christian materials. Among the translations that use 祂 to refer to “God” were early versions of Lü Zhenzhong’s (呂振中) version (New Testament: 1946, complete Bible: 1970). R.P. Kramers (in The Bible Translator 1956, p. 152ff. ) explains why later versions of Lü’s translation did not continue with this practice: “This new way of writing ‘He,’ however, has created a minor problem of its own: must this polite form be used whenever Jesus is referred to? Lü follows the rule that, wherever Jesus is referred to as a human being, the normal tā (他) is written; where he is referred to as divine, especially after the ascension, the reverential tā (祂) is used.”
In that system, one kind of pronoun is used for humans (male and female alike) and others for natural elements, non-liquid masses, and some spiritual entities (one other is used for large animals and another one for miscellaneous items). While in these languages the pronoun for spiritual entities used to be employed when referring to God, this has changed into the use of the human pronoun.
Lynell Zogbo (in The Bible Translator 1989, p. 401ff. ) explains: “From informal discussions with young Christians especially, it would appear that, at least for some people, the experience and/or concepts of Christianity are affecting the choice of pronoun for God. Some people explain that God is no longer ‘far away,’ but is somehow tangible and personal. For these speakers God has shifted over into the human category.”
In Kouya, God (the Father) and Jesus are referred to with the human pronoun ɔ, whereas the Holy Spirit is referred to with a non-human pronoun. (Northern Grebo and Western Krahn make a similar distinction.)
Eddie Arthur, a former Kouya Bible translation consultant, says the following: “We tried to insist that this shouldn’t happen, but the Kouya team members were insistent that the human pronoun for the Spirit would not work.”
In Burmese, the pronoun ko taw (ကိုယ်တော်) is used either as 2nd person (you) or 3rd person (he, him, his) reference. “This term clearly has its root in the religious language in Burmese. No ordinary persons are addressed or known by this pronoun because it is reserved for Buddhist monks, famous religious teachers, and in the case of Christianity, the Trinity.” (Source: Gam Seng Shae in The Bible Translator 2002, p. 202ff. )
In Thai, the pronoun phra`ong (พระองค์) is used, a gender-neutral pronoun which must refer to a previously introduced royal or divine being. Similarly, in Northern Khmer, which is spoken in Thailand, “an honorific divine pronoun” is used for the pronoun referring to the persons of the Trinity (source: David Thomas in The Bible Translator 1993, p. 445 ). In Urak Lawoi’, another language spoken in Thailand, the translation often uses tuhat (ตูฮัด) — “God” — ”as a divine pronoun where Thai has phra’ong even though it’s actually a noun.” (Source for Thai and Urak Lawoi’: Stephen Pattemore)
The English “Contemporary Torah” addresses the question of God and gendered pronouns by mostly avoiding pronouns in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament (unless God is referred to as “lord,” “father,” “king,” or “warrior”). It does that by either using passive constructs (“He gave us” vs. “we were given”), by using the adjective “divine” or by using “God” rather than a pronoun.
Some Protestant and Orthodox English Bibles use a referential capitalized spelling when referring to the persons of the Trinity with “He,” “His,” “Him,” or “Himself.” This includes for instance the New American Standard Bible or The Orthodox New Testament, but most translations do not. Two other languages where this is also done (in most Bible translations) are Twents as well as Indonesian and Malay. In the latter two languages this follows the language usage according to the Qur’an, which in turn predicts that usage (see Soesilo in The Bible Translator 1991, p. 442ff. and The Bible Translator 1997, p. 433ff. ).
Notice the parallel parts that are similar in meaning:
7a He stores up sound wisdomfor the upright;
7bH He is a shieldto those who walk with integrity,
2:7a
He stores up: The Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as He stores up indicates that the LORD figuratively sets something aside for the upright. Some ways to translate this word are:
reserves (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
holds…in store (New International Version)
Some English versions imply that there is something available for the LORD to give, but do not explicitly express the meaning of “stores up.” For example:
provides (Good News Translation)
-or-
gives (Contemporary English Version)
This may be a good option in some languages.
sound wisdom: The Hebrew word tušiyyah, which the Berean Standard Bible translates here as sound wisdom, includes two ideas:
(a) resourcefulness, competence, good sense, ability to plan what to do
(b) the success or victory that results from this resourcefulness
In the context of the parallel word “shield,” sense (b) of this Hebrew word is appropriate. However, most English versions focus on sense (a). See also 8:14a, where the Berean Standard Bible translates the same word as “sound judgment.” “Sound judgment” is a good parallel to “shield,” because the LORD’s gift of sound judgment protects people who are upright/blameless.
In some languages, it may be possible to use two separate terms to cover both aspects of meaning. For example:
resourcefulness and success
for the upright: The term the upright refers to those whose conduct is right and just and straightforward. Some ways to translate this word are:
righteous (Good News Translation)
-or-
everyone who obeys him (Contemporary English Version)
2:7b
those who walk with integrity: The word walk is an idiom that refers to a person’s customary conduct. The Hebrew noun that the Berean Standard Bible translates as integrity has the underlying meaning of completeness or perfection. It refers to consistent, flawless, moral goodness.
General Comment on 2:7a–b
The parallel terms “upright” and “those who walk with integrity” refer to the same group of people. The New Living Translation (1996) makes this clear by using the pronoun “their” in 2:7b:
7a He grants a treasure of good sense to the godly. (New Living Translation (1996))
7b He is their shield, protecting those who walk with integrity. (New Living Translation (1996))
In some languages, it may be more natural to combine and/or reorder these terms. For example:
He is a constant source of good judgment for those who consistently do what is right. He is like a shield that protects them.
The above translation also changes the metaphor “He is a shield” into a simile and makes explicit the way in which he is similar to a shield. This may be a good option for languages which do not use metaphors.
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