complete verse (Proverbs 5:2)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Proverbs 5:2:

  • Kupsabiny: “And thereafter/then, you will be a person who realizes/has understanding and knows words that are suitable to speak.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “By this you will have foresight.
    And in your words will come insight.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “so-that you (sing.) will-know to decide what is right and speak with wisdom.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “so-that always you (sing.) will-be-circumspect and it-will-be-heard in your (sing.) words that you (sing.) are thinking/reflective.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Proverbs 5:2

Verse 2 is the consequence of verse 1.

“That you may keep discretion”: “Discretion” is used in 1.4; 2.11; 3.21. Here, as there, the word refers to the ability to make wise choices and to use good judgment. Contemporary English Version says “sound judgment.” Note Good News Translation “behave properly.”

“And your lips may guard knowledge”: This line has caused interpreters some difficulty. Some argue that “lips” do not guard or keep knowledge but that they guard speech. They conclude that “lips” has been copied by mistake into verse 2 from verse 3. However, Hebrew Old Testament Text Project rates “your lips may guard” as “B”, and recommends that this expression be understood as a contrast with “the lips of a loose woman dripping honey” in the next verse. If we follow the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommendation, this line may be understood as “May your lips guard [watch over] knowledge,” and verse 3 will begin “Don’t be like the loose woman whose lips drip honey.” Traduction Œcuménique de la Bible takes “lips” to mean speech: “Your speech will keep knowledge.” Bible en français courant has “and you will speak with full knowledge.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates the whole of verse 2 as “Then you will keep a clear head and will have the necessary wisdom to have the right thing to say.”

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 5:2

5:2

Notice the parallel parts that are similar in meaning. Both lines give the purpose or intended consequence of the admonitions stated in 5:1.

2a that you may maintain discretion

2b and your lips may preserve knowledge.

5:2a

that you may maintain discretion: The Hebrew word mǝzimmah, which the Berean Standard Bible translates as discretion, indicates the ability to make an effective plan. It refers to the shrewdness or prudence that causes a person to carefully consider what to do.

To maintain discretion means to always use discretion in your planning and actions. Other ways to translate this line are:

Then you will show discernment (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
Then you will know how to behave properly (Good News Translation)
-or-
so that you may act with foresight (God’s Word)

The word “discretion” first occurs in Proverbs in 1:4b.

5:2b

your lips may preserve knowledge: The clause that the Berean Standard Bible translates as your lips may preserve knowledge is a figure of speech in which the word lips represents the whole person. It means that the person will be careful in expressing his knowledge. He will express only what he knows to be true. Other ways to translate this clause are:

your lips will express what you’ve learned (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
you will always know the right thing to say (Contemporary English Version)

knowledge: In this context, the word knowledge refers primarily to the information that a person knows.

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