obedience / obey

The Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin, and Greek that is translated in English typically as “obedience” or “obey” is translated in Tepeuxila Cuicatec as “thing hearing,” because “to hear is to obey.” (Source: Marjorie Davis in The Bible Translator 1952, p. 34ff. )

In Huba it is translated as hya nǝu nyacha: “follow (his) mouth.” (Source: David Frank in this blog post )

In Central Mazahua it is translated as “listen-obey” and in Huehuetla Tepehua as “believe-obey” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), and in Noongar as dwangka-don, lit. “hear do” (source: Portions of the Holy Bible in the Nyunga language of Australia, 2018).

See also disobedience.

Translation commentary on Proverbs 30:17

This short saying warns against the sin referred to in verse 11 and promises a violent and shameful death for those who do not respect their parents.

“The eye that mocks a father”: This is again a figure of speech. The “eye” stands for the person who “mocks” or “makes fun of” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version) “a father”, meaning his or her own father.

“And scorns to obey a mother”: This is parallel to the first line and similar in meaning. “Scorns” means “despises” or “treats with contempt,” and in the context it has the sense of deliberately disobeying or refusing to obey someone. “To obey” renders a word in the Hebrew text that is regarded by commentators as “doubtful in form and meaning” (Toy). The Septuagint has “old age” here, and this is followed by Revised English Bible (“a mother’s old age”) and Good News Translation. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommends following the Hebrew (with a rating of “B”), and the Handbook also recommends this.

In translation it will be best in most languages to make the subject of the first two lines personal. Contemporary English Version is a good model to follow: “Don’t make fun of your father or disobey your mother—. . ..” Another good model is “A person who laughs at his father or mother, and doesn’t want to obey them. . ..”

“Will be picked out by the ravens of the valley and eaten by the vultures”: In Revised Standard Version the subject of these two lines is “The eye” in line 1. If a translation uses a personal subject for the first part of the verse, the last two lines must take this into account; for example, Contemporary English Version makes “you” the subject for the beginning of the verse and says for these lines “crows will peck out your eyes and vultures will eat the rest of you.” :”The ravens of the valley” are wild ravens or crows that often feed on the bodies of animals that have died, just as “the vultures” do. For parts of the world where “ravens” or crows do not do this or where “vultures” are not known, it will be better to use a more general expression here, such as “the birds that feed on dead bodies.” The text does not actually say that the person dies before the “ravens” and “vultures” come and eat his body, but it may be necessary to make this clear in some languages. A translation that does this says, “[that person] will die and not be buried, so that the birds which eat dead bodies will come and eat him.”

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 .