וְיִמָּלְא֣וּ אֲסָמֶ֣יךָ שָׂבָ֑ע וְ֝תִיר֗וֹשׁ יְקָבֶ֥יךָ יִפְרֹֽצוּ׃ פ
10then your barns will be filled with plenty,
and your vats will be bursting with wine.
In Gbaya, the notion of something being filled completely is emphasized in these verses with yɛtɛtɛ or zɛ́rɛ́rɛ́, both ideophones that express the fact of being filled to the brim, or overflowing.
Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)
The Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that are translated as “wine” in English is translated into Pass Valley Yali as “grape juice pressed long ago (= fermented)” or “strong water” (source: Daud Soesilo). In Guhu-Samane it is also translated as “strong water” (source: Ernest L. Richert in The Bible Translator 1965, p. 198ff. ), in Noongar as “liquor” (verbatim: “strong water”) (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang), in Hausa as ruwan inabi or “water of grapes” (with no indication whether it’s alcoholic or not — source: Mark A. Gaddis), in sar as kasə nduú or “grape drink” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin), or in Papantla Totonac and Coyutla Totonac as “a drink like Pulque” (for “Pulque,” see here ) (source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1971, p. 169ff. ).
In Swahili, Bible translations try to avoid local words for alcoholic drinks, because “drinking of any alcohol at all was one of the sins most denounced by early missionaries. Hence translators are uncomfortable by the occurrences of wine in the Bible. Some of the established churches which use wine prefer to see church wine as holy, and would not refer to it by the local names used for alcoholic drinks. Instead church wine is often referred to by terms borrowed from other languages, divai (from German, der Wein) or vini/mvinyo (from ltalian/Latin vino/vinum). Several translations done by Protestants have adapted the Swahili divai for ‘wine,’ while those done by Catholics use vini or mvinyo.” (Source: Rachel Konyoro in The Bible Translator 1985, p. 221ff. )
The Swahili divai was in turn borrowed by Sabaot and was turned into tifaayiik and is used as such in the Bible. Kupsabiny, on the other hand, borrowed mvinyo from Swahili and turned it into Finyonik. (Source: Iver Larsen)
In Nyamwezi, two terms are used. Malwa ga muzabibu is a kind of alcohol that people specifically use to get drunk (such as in Genesis 9:21) and ki’neneko is used for a wine made from grapes (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext).
In some Hindi translations (such as the Common Language version, publ. 2015 ), one term (dākharasa दाखरस — grape juice) is used when that particular drink is in the focus (such as in John 2) and another term (madirā मदिरा — “alcohol” or “liquor”) when drunkenness is in the focus (such as in Eph. 5:18).
In Mandarin Chinese, the generic term jiǔ (酒) or “alcohol(ic drink)” is typically used. Exceptions are Leviticus 10:9, Numbers 6:3, Deuteronomy 29:6, Judges 13:4 et al., 1 Samuel 1:15, and Luke 1:15 where a differentiation between weak and strong alcohol is needed. The Mandarin Chinese Union Version (2010) translates that as qīngjiǔ lièjiǔ (清酒烈酒) and dànjiǔ lièjiǔ (淡酒烈酒), both in the form of a Chinese proverb and meaning “light alcohol and strong drink.” (Source: Zetzsche)
See also proceeds from the vine / anything that comes from the grapevine, wine (Japanese honorifics), filled with new wine, and wine (Gen 27:28).
Verse 10 states the consequence of verse 9 and should be clearly introduced to show this.
“Then your barns will be filled with plenty”: “Barns” renders a word referring to places where grain crops are stored. In many areas there are small mud or stone structures of various shapes for storing dry crops. In areas where there are no crops grown that are stored for eating or for supplying seed, a descriptive term or expression will often be required, for example, “store place,” “shed for keeping grain,” or “place for hiding food.” If the passive construction cannot be used, we may need to say, for example, “Then you will have much food in your store place” or “Food will fill up your storehouses.”
“Plenty” translates a term that is normally used in a very general sense. Therefore, interpreters often change the word slightly to get “wheat,” as does the Septuagint in this case. Some translations say “corn” in the British English sense of cereals in general. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project says the word translated “plenty” can mean both “fullness” and “corn/wheat.” Good News Translation uses the more general “grain,” which refers to the seeds of any cereal grass such as wheat or oats.
“And your vats will be bursting with wine”: “Vats” refers to large containers, sometimes cisterns carved out of stone, tubs, or wooden vessels for holding the juice of grapes as it ferments into wine. In Matt 9.17 wine is stored in skins. The word rendered “vats” may also refer to the wine press. The picture presented in this line is of wine vats or presses running over because they cannot contain the abundance of wine. “Wine” translates a word that refers to new wine, that is, grape juice in the early stages of fermentation. The wine crop is mentioned along with olive oil and grain as one of the major crops of the land of Canaan (Deut 7.13; Neh 5.11). The abundance of grain and wine is a symbol of prosperity throughout the Old Testament.
In the translation of verse 10, particularly where grapes are not grown and wine making is unknown, it may be necessary to supply the name of another fermented drink or use a borrowed word and explain the significance of wine making in a note.
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 3:10:
3:10
Notice the parallel parts that are similar in meaning:
10a then your barns will be filled with plenty,
10b and your vats will overflow with new wine.
This verse expresses the result of obeying the command in 3:9.
3:10a
your barns: The word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as barns refers to granaries or other storage places for grain and other crops. Other ways to translate this phrase are:
your granaries
-or-
your storehouses
-or-
the places where you store crops
filled with plenty: There are two ways to interpret the Hebrew phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as filled with plenty :
(1) It means “filled with plenty,” that is, completely filled. For example:
will be full (New Century Version)
-or-
will be filled completely (NET Bible)
(2) It means “filled with grain.” For example:
filled with grain (Revised English Bible)
You may follow either interpretation. There is little difference in meaning between them. A barn that is completely filled would contain mostly grain. The Display follows interpretation (1).
3:10b
and your vats: The word vats refers to a place in which grape juice was stored as it fermented into wine. People placed the grapes in an area that was carved or hollowed out of a large flat stone. Then they trampled the grapes with their feet. The juice from the crushed grapes ran down through a channel carved in the rock into a lower area or “vat” that was also carved out of the rock.
Some ways to translate the word vats are:
• Use a descriptive phrase. For example:
wine jars
-or-
wine containers
• Make the container implicit. For example:
you will have too much wine to store it all (Good News Translation)
Additional cultural information about OT wine presses may be placed in a footnote if desired.
will overflow: The verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as overflow is literally “burst open.” “Burst open” is an example of hyperbole. It is used here to emphasize that the wine vats will be completely full. You should use an expression in your language that emphasizes the large quantity of the wine. Here is another way to translate this:
your vats will be bursting (New Revised Standard Version)
with new wine: In Hebrew, new wine refers to wine that has been pressed recently from grapes and gathered into vats. It is not yet fermented or is just beginning to ferment. Some other ways to translate this word are:
fresh wine (God’s Word)
-or-
fermenting grape/fruit juice
-or-
grape juice that is beginning to ferment
The emphasis here is on the quantity of the wine, not its age. If it is awkward to specify newly made wine and still maintain the emphasis on its abundance, you may want to use a more general term. For example:
wine (English Standard Version)
wine: The word wine refers to an alcoholic drink. It is made from the juice of a fruit called grapes. When grape juice ferments, it becomes wine.
In some areas, people may not be familiar with grapes or with wine. If that is true in your area, some other ways to translate wine are:
• Use a specific term for another alcoholic drink made from fruit. For example:
pomegranate wine
-or-
a drink like palm wine
• Use a descriptive phrase. For example:
fruit juice/water
-or-
grape juice
General Comment on 3:10a–b
In some languages, it may be more natural to combine and/or reorder the parallel terms, as the Contemporary English Version has done. The Contemporary English Version also makes the storage containers for grain and wine implicit. It mentions only the contents:
Then you will have more grain and grapes than you will ever need.
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