neighbor

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The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “neighbor” in English is rendered into Babatana as “different man,” i.e. someone who is not one of your relatives. (Source: David Clark)

In North Alaskan Inupiatun, it is rendered as “a person outside of your building,” in Tzeltal as “your back and side” (implying position of the dwellings), in Indonesian and in Tae’ as “your fellow-man,” in Toraja-Sa’dan it is “your fellow earth-dweller,” in Shona (translation of 1966) as “another person like you,” in Kekchí “younger-brother-older-brother” (a compound which means all one’s neighbors in a community) (sources: Bratcher / Nida and Reiling / Swellengrebel), in Mairasi “your people” (source: Enggavoter 2004), in Mezquital Otomi as “fellow being,” in Tzeltal as “companion,” in Isthmus Zapotec as “another,” in Teutila Cuicatec as “all people” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), and in most modern German translations as Mitmensch or “fellow human being” (lit. “with + human being”).

In Matt 19:19, Matt 22:39, Mark 12:31, Mark 12:33, Luke 10:27, Luke 10:29 it is translated into Ixcatlán Mazatec with a term that refers to a person who is socially/physically near. Ixcatlán Mazatec also has a another term for “neighbor” that means “fellow humans-outsiders” which was not chosen for these passages. (Source: Robert Bascom)

In Noongar it is translated as moorta-boordak or “people nearby” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).

neighbor - relative

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “neighbor” or “relative” in English is translated in the Contemporary Chichewa translation (2002/2016) and the Buku Lopatulika translation (1922/2018) with just one word: nansi. This word can also be translated as neighbors whom you share a blood relation with because in Chewa context a community is mostly comprised of people of blood relations. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Proverbs 3:29

“Do not plan evil against your neighbor”: “Plan evil” means to plot or scheme to do harm or injury. In some languages to “plan evil” is expressed as “Don’t put it in your heart to do bad things against” or “Don’t think up ways to harm.” For “your neighbor” see verse 28. Here “neighbor” is defined in the second line as the person who trusts you and lives nearby. In some languages “neighbor” in this context is “person who lives near you” or “person from a nearby compound.”

“Who dwells trustingly beside you”: “Trustingly” renders the same word as translated “securely” by Revised Standard Version in verse 23 and refers to the peace and safety in which the person lives while depending on the goodwill of those who live around him. Making evil plans against such people is to betray their confidence. Bible en français courant says “Do not plan to do bad to your friend because he lives close to you in trust.”

We may also say, for example, “Don’t think up evil ways to hurt the person living nearby who puts his confidence in you.”

A translation that places the negative command at the end of the verse says “The people of your group live close to you and think you are their friend. Don’t think of doing wrong to them.”

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 .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Proverbs 3:29

3:29

In this verse, 3:29b adds more details about the neighbor who is mentioned in 3:29a.

29a Do not devise evil against your neighbor,

29b for he trustfully dwells beside you.

3:29a–b

Do not devise evil against your neighbor, for he trustfully dwells beside you: In this context, the word neighbor probably refers to a person who lives nearby. In some languages, it may be more natural to refer to “neighbors.” For example:

Don’t plan anything that will hurt your neighbors (Good News Translation)

for he trustfully dwells beside you: In Hebrew, this clause is more literally “and/when he is the one-living in-trust with-you.” The phrase “with you” is connected to “in-trust.” It means that the neighbor trusts the son, not that the neighbor lives with the son. For a person to plot against a neighbor who trusts him is a serious offense. It is serious because a neighbor does not suspect that a person living nearby will harm him. Other ways to translate this clause are:

they live beside you, trusting you (Good News Translation)
-or-
for those who live nearby trust you (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
when he dwells by you unsuspectingly (NET Bible)

General Comment on 3:29a–b

In some languages, it may be more natural to change the order of the verse parts. For example:

29b Your neighbors trust you,

29a so do not make plans to hurt them.

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