complete verse (Proverbs 3:8)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Proverbs 3:8:

  • Kupsabiny: “That will make your body to be good and you will happy.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “This will be medicine for your body
    and strength for your bones.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “For that can-make- your (sing.) body -healthy/(lit. good) and can-make-strong.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “If you (sing.) do this, he will cause- you (sing.) -to-become-strong so-that you (sing.) are healthy and your (sing.) feeling is good.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Proverbs 3:8

This verse is a consequence of verse 7 and states that the content of line 2 of that verse leads to physical healing or soundness of body.

“It will be healing to your flesh”: “It” points back to verse 7. Since this line introduces a consequence, it may be appropriate to say, for example, “Then. . .,” “In that way. . .,” or “If you do that. . ..” The Hebrew of this line is literally “Healing shall be to your navel.” “Healing” is probably to be understood as “health.” There is similarity of form in Hebrew between the word “navel” and the word that the Revised Standard Version, like the Septuagint, has translated as “flesh”. Some versions say “body” instead of “flesh”.

“And refreshment to your bones”: It is necessary to look at this second line before suggesting how best to translate the whole verse. The line is literally “and drink [as in Psa 102.9] for your bones.” The Revised Standard Version note is “or medicine.” Just as “navel” is used figuratively in the first line, so is “bones” in the second line. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, for example, renders the whole verse as follows: “That is a medicine that will keep you in good health and keep your body refreshed.” Note that Good News Translation speaks of “healing your wounds and easing your pains.”

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 3:8

3:8

Notice the parallel parts that are similar in meaning:

8a This will bring healing to your body

8b and refreshment to your bones.

This verse expresses the result of obeying the commands in 3:7b.

3:8a–b

healing…refreshment: The parallel terms that the Berean Standard Bible translates as healing and refreshment are literally “healing” and “drink.” In this context, healing probably refers not to recovery from an illness, but to restoration of full strength and well-being. “Drink” is a figure of speech (metonymy) that represents its result, namely, refreshment or strengthening.

to your body…to your bones: The parallel terms body and bones are figures of speech (synecdoche) that refer to the whole person. The bones are specified, because people in Old Testament times considered strong, healthy bones to be a sign of good health. Most scholars feel that this verse refers primarily to physical health and overall well-being. Thus, the New Living Translation (1996) has:

you will gain renewed health and vitality (New Living Translation (1996))

Here is another way to translate this:

This will make you healthy, and you will feel strong. (Contemporary English Version)

Be careful not to imply that the young man being spoken to was wounded and in pain.

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