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).

Translation commentary on Proverbs 6:29

“So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife”: This line compares the adulterer to the person who gets burned in verses 27-28. There should be a clear connection between verse 29 and the two verses before it. If you have used rhetorical questions in those verses, for example, then verse 29 may begin “Neither can you sleep with someone else’s wife. . ..” “Goes in to” is an indirect way of saying “has sexual relations with.” See Good News Translation “sleep with.” For “neighbor” see 3.28-29. “Neighbor’s wife” can be translated in this verse by “another man’s wife” or “someone else’s wife.”

“None who touches her will go unpunished”: “Touches”, like “goes in to” in the first line, is an indirect way of referring to sexual contact. It is not to be taken as simply touching. In some languages, however, “to touch a woman” carries the sense of having relations with her, and so the literal translation will carry the correct sense. “Go unpunished” is literally “will not be innocent,” which means “will be guilty” and therefore “will be punished.” It is not certain whether the punishment will come as the result of the law taking action or whether, as in verses 34-35, it is the angry husband who takes revenge on the adulterer. We may restate this line positively, for example, “Anyone who sleeps with her will certainly be punished.”

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 6:29)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Proverbs 6:29:

  • Kupsabiny: “It is like that for a person who sleeps with someone’s wife/woman. There is no person who touches the wife of someone and escapes punishment.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Sleeping with someone else’s wife
    is also like that.
    Anyone who does this will have trouble.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Therefore if you (sing.) will-have-sex with the wife of others you (sing.) will-suffer.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “So also for one-who-sleeps-with the spouse of his fellowman, there-is-no one who does this who will not be punished.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)