anger

Click here to view graphically

The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated as “anger” or similar in English in this verse is translated with a variety of solutions (Bratcher / Nida says: “Since anger has so many manifestations and seems to affect so many aspects of personality, it is not strange that expressions used to describe this emotional response are so varied”).

  • Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “be warm inside”
  • Mende: “have a cut heart”
  • Mískito: “have a split heart”
  • Tzotzil: “have a hot heart”
  • Mossi: “a swollen heart”
  • Western Kanjobal: “fire of the viscera”
  • San Blas Kuna: “pain in the heart”
  • Chimborazo Highland Quichua: “not with good eye”
  • Chichewa: “have a burning heart” (source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation) (see also anger burned in him)
  • Citak: two different terms, one meaning “angry” and one meaning “offended,” both are actually descriptions of facial expressions. The former can be represented by an angry stretching of the eyes or by an angry frown. The latter is similarly expressed by an offended type of frown with one’s head lowered. (Source: Graham Ogden)

In Akan, a number of metaphors are used, most importantly abufuo, lit. “weedy chest” (the chest is seen as a container that contains the heart but can also metaphorically be filled with other fluids etc.), but also abufuhyeε lit. “hot/burning weedy chest” and anibereε, lit. “reddened eyes.” (Source: Gladys Nyarko Ansah in Kövecses / Benczes / Szelid 2024, p. 21ff.)

See also God’s anger and angry.

Translation commentary on Proverbs 30:33

“For pressing milk produces curds”: The word “For” indicates that this verse gives the reason for the advice of the previous verse. The term “pressing” is the first word in each line of this verse; it is a rare word referring to the action of squeezing, pressing, or wringing something. The word “produces” is also in each of the lines; it means literally “makes come out.” In English the appropriate word to use with “milk” is not “pressing”, but “churn” (Contemporary English Version, Good News Translation) or “churning” (New Jerusalem Bible, New International Version); and all these versions recognize that what the process of churning or vigorous stirring “produces” is “butter.” Where people know about making butter or cheese from milk, translators will be able to use the terms they have for these processes. In other cases it may be possible to use a description of the action of pressing together or churning. One translation says, for example, “If you take some cow’s milk and turn it around, turn it around, butter will come.”

“Pressing the nose produces blood”: In this context “pressing” refers to an action that involves some violence. New International Version says “twisting the nose” and New Jerusalem Bible “wringing the nose,” but these are not completely natural in English. A more natural way of expressing the thought is “If you hit someone’s nose, it bleeds” (Good News Translation).

“And pressing anger produces strife”: We may say that this is the “punch line” of the saying. It gives the reason why the behavior described at the beginning of the previous verse is unwise. There is a play on words in Hebrew between the previous line and this line (the term “anger” is derived from the Hebrew word “nose”). The expression “pressing anger” may best be rendered as “stirring up anger” (New International Version, and see Good News Translation) or “whipping up anger” (New Jerusalem Bible). In languages other than English this is often translated simply as “if you make people angry.” For “strife” see 18.6. “Strife” is translated “trouble” in Contemporary English Version and Good News Translation; in some languages it is natural to say “there will be fighting.”

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 30:33)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Proverbs 30:33:

  • Kupsabiny: “If you shake milk, you get cheese/butter. And/or if you hit a person on the nose, it bleeds. But/And again if you disrupt/disturb people until they become angry, you will bring trouble/disaster.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “When milk is churned there will be ghee,
    When the nose is hit, blood will come out,
    In just the same way, when anger is expressed,
    there will be disputes.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “(Is it) not so that if you (sing.) keep stirring the milk it will-produce butter? And (is it) not so that if you (sing.) punch the nose of a man it will-bleed? Therefore if you (sing.) provoke-to-anger a man, that will-start-up trouble.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Because if one shakes-back-and-forth and squeezes milk, there-will-be butter. If you (sing.) also hit/box the nose of your (sing.) fellow, blood will-come-out. Likewise also if you (sing.) make-worse your (sing.) anger, you (sing.) will-cause-there-to-be a quarrel/fight.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)

SIL Translator’s Notes on Proverbs 30:33

30:33

Notice the parallel parts that are similar in meaning. Each of the underlined parts describes a particular action. Each of the parts in bold print describes the predictable result of this action.

33a For as the churning of milk yields butter,

33b and the twisting of the nose draws blood,

33c so the stirring of anger brings forth strife.

The parallel words “churning, twisting,” and “stirring” are all translations of the same Hebrew word. It means “pressing” or “squeezing.”

The three parallel verbs “yields, draws,” and “brings forth” are also translations of the same Hebrew verb. The Hebrew word is literally “causes to come out.”

In many languages, it will be necessary to use different terms for each occurrence of these two Hebrew words, as the Berean Standard Bible does.

In Hebrew, this verse is a metaphor. The three lines are more literally:

33a For the squeezing of milk produces butter,

33b and squeezing of a nose produces blood

33c and squeezing of anger produces strife.

The metaphor gives a reason for the warning to keep quiet in 30:32. The first two lines are parallel illustrations in the metaphor. The last line is the topic of the metaphor. This line gives the main point.

The metaphor compares the action of “stirring up anger” to the actions of “churning” milk and “twisting” someone’s nose. The similarity is that each of these actions produces predictable results. Before discussing different ways to translate the metaphor as a whole, the Notes will discuss each line separately.

30:33a

For as the churning of milk yields butter: There are two main ways to interpret the method described by churning of milk and the products that are produced:

(1) This line refers to the process of shaking milk in a skin bottle or bag until the bacteria inside the bag sours or curdles the milk. This sour or curdled milk is known as “leben” in Arabic, and Bedouins still serve it to their guests. It does not refer to butter. If this curdled milk is twisted in a cloth, it produces curds (also called cottage cheese or yogurt). For example:

For as pressing milk produces curds (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
For the stirring of milk brings forth curds (New American Bible)

(2) This line refers to the process of shaking milk or cream in a skin bottle or bag until it produces butter. This product refers only to butter. It is known as “leben/laban” in Arabic. For example:

Just as stirring milk makes butter (New Century Version)
-or-
If you churn milk, you get butter (Good News Translation)

The Meaning Lines in the Display will follow interpretation (1), along with most scholars. Butter is normally made from churning cream, not milk. Hebrew does not have a separate word for “cream,” and the Hebrew word for butter is also the word for “curds.”

However, most versions follow interpretation (2). It is recommended that you follow the interpretation that best fits the understanding and experience of people in your language area.

30:33b

and the twisting of the nose draws blood: This line means that squeezing, striking, or twisting a person’s nose causes it to bleed. Some other ways to translate this line are:

by wringing the nose you produce blood (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
and striking the nose causes bleeding (New Living Translation (2004))

30:33c

so the stirring of anger brings forth strife: This line refers to words or actions that cause people to become more and more angry. The inevitable result of increased anger is strife. This word may refer here to disagreements or quarrels. It may also refer to lawsuits in court. Some other ways to translate this line are:

so stirring up anger causes quarrels (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
If you stir up anger, you get into trouble. (Good News Translation)

30:33a–c

The note on 30:33 identified the three lines of this verse as a metaphor. Some ways to translate this metaphor are:

• Keep the metaphor. For example:

33a For pressing milk produces curds,

33b pressing the nose produces blood,

33c and pressing anger produces strife. (English Standard Version)

• Change the metaphor to a simile with a similar structure to the three lines of the Berean Standard Bible. For example:

33a For as the pressing of milk produces curd,

33b and the pressing of the nose produces blood,

33c so the pressing of anger leads to strife. (Revised English Bible)

• Keep the comparison but use a different structure. For example:

33a If you shake milk, it turns to curds.

33b If you twist someone’s nose, it bleeds.

33c Similarly, if you make people angry, there will be quarrels.

© 2012, 2016, 2020 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.