The Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic and Latin that is translated as “justice” in English is translated in American Sign Language with a sign that describes the quality or principle of fairness, righteousness, and impartiality in treating other people. A literal back-translation of the signs are “FOLLOW(God is implied) ACTIONS, DECISIONS JUST-RIGHT”. A more idiomatic back-translation would be: “actions and decisions are right/fitting/just in accordance to God’s will.” The movement in the signs itself helps to indicate that this is a noun, not a verb. (Source: Ruth Anna Spooner, Ron Lawer)
“Justice” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor
Good News Translation marks this as a second consequence of verses 1-4 by referring back to those verses here: “If you listen to me, you will know. . ..” This may be a helpful model for some languages.
“Then . . . righteousness and justice and equity”: For these three qualities see comments on 1.3. New English Bible/Revised English Bible make a change in the text that replaces “equity” with “keep,” that is, “keep only to the good man’s path.” However, Hebrew Old Testament Text Project gives the Hebrew text at this point an “A” rating, which means the committee considers “equity” to be certain.
It appears that “every good path” is unrelated to what goes before it. However, “every good path” is to be understood as the fourth element that the learner of wisdom will understand. The sense of “every good path” is “what is right conduct,” “the right way to live,” or “the practice of doing what you should do.” Good News Translation offers a model translation.
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 2:9:
Kupsabiny: “When you get wisdom, it will enable/help you know the righteous thing, the true thing and every path that is good,” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Then you will know what is right and what is not right, what is good and what is not good, what is justice and what is injustice.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “If you (sing.) will-listen to me, you (sing.) will-know what is good to do: the right/correct, righteous, and fitting.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “If you (sing.) listen-to me, you (sing.) will-come-to-know the proper and righteous-thing that you (sing.) will-do and how you will do (things) so-that there-is-no one to-whom-you-show-favoritism (lit. cause-to-be-differentiated).” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Some versions such as the Berean Standard Bible start a new paragraph at 2:9 to indicate the second result of desiring wisdom. You will need to decide whether it is better in your language to start a new paragraph here or to continue the same paragraph, as in the Revised Standard Version and New Jerusalem Bible.
2:9
Then: The word Then introduces the second result of the conditions given in 2:1–4 (the first result was given in 2:5). The Good News Translation makes this connection explicit by repeating the condition from 2:1. It has:
If you listen to me, you will know
you will discern righteousness and justice and equity—every good path: For the words translated as righteousness and justice and equity, see the note on 1:3b. In some languages, it may be possible to express righteousness and justice and equity with one word. It may also be possible to express “fair/equitable” by a negative expression, such as “not show favoritism.”
every good path: This phrase summarizes everything that is right and just and fair. It refers to a way of life that leads a person to do what is morally good. Some ways to translate this phrase are:
You will know what you should do. (Good News Translation)
-or-
you will find the right way to go (New Living Translation (2004))
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.