wisdom

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The Hebrew, Aramaic, Ge’ez, Latin, and Greek that is translated as “wisdom” in English is rendered in various ways:

  • Amganad Ifugao / Tabasco Chontal: “(big) mind”
  • Bulu / Yamba: “heart-thinking”
  • Tae’: “cleverness of heart” (source for this and all above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Palauan: “bright spirit (innermost)” (source: Bratcher / Hatton)
  • Ixcatlán Mazatec: “with your best/biggest thinking” (source: Robert Bascom)
  • Noongar: dwangka-boola, lit. “ear much” (source: Portions of the Holy Bible in the Nyunga language of Australia, 2018 — see also remember)
  • Kwere “to know how to live well” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
  • Dobel: “their ear holes are long-lasting” (in Acts 6:3) (source: Jock Hughes)
  • Gbaya: iŋa-mgbara-mɔ or “knowing-about-things” (note that in comparison to that, “knowledge” is translated as iŋa-mɔ or “knowing things”) (source: Philip Noss in The Bible Translator 2001, p. 114ff. )
  • Chichewa: nzeru, meaning both “knowledge” and “wisdom” (source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
  • Uma: “clearness” (source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Kako: “heart thinking” (source: Reyburn 2002, p. 190)

In Hungarian Sign Language it is translated with a hand gesture referring to God to indicate a human quality to communicate that wisdom does not originate from man but is linked to and connected with the fear of God (source: Jenjelvi Biblia and HSL Bible Translation Group):


“Wisdom” in Hungarian Sign Language (source )

See also wisdom (Proverbs) and knowledge.

complete verse (Psalm 90:12)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 90:12:

  • Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
    “Teach us to count our days accurately,
    that we may have a wise heart.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
  • Newari:
    “Teach us to become ones who understand
    [how] to count the number of our days.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon:
    “Cause- us (excl.) -to-understand that our (excl.) lives (are) short,
    so-that we (excl.) will-become-wise in our (excl.) living.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Laarim:
    “You teach us well that our lives are short,
    so that we would be wise.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
  • Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
    “Tufundishe kuuelewa ufupi wa uhai wetu,
    ili tuwe na moyo wa hekima.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
  • English:
    “So teach/help us to realize that we live for only a short time
    in order that we may use our time wisely.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Japanese benefactives (-sete)

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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. When the referent is God, the “divine” honorific prefix mi- (御 or み) can be used, as in mi-kao (御顔) or “face (of God)” in the referenced verses.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Japanese benefactives (oshiete)

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a benefactive construction as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. Here, oshiete (教えて) or “inform” is used in combination with kudasaru (くださる), a respectful form of the benefactive kureru (くれる). A benefactive reflects the good will of the giver or the gratitude of a recipient of the favor. To convey this connotation, English translation needs to employ a phrase such as “for me (my sake)” or “for you (your sake).”

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Psalm 90:11 - 90:12

As suggested in the introduction above and in the comment on verse 7, verse 11 is the end of the confessional unit, and translators may wish to make the division into units in that way rather than as found here.

The meaning of the two rhetorical questions in verse 11 is not at once apparent. The first one seems to mean that no one has ever really experienced the full effect of God’s anger against human sin; consequently a person should always be conscious of the punishment that awaits sin. Considers is “knows” in Hebrew–a verb for deep, intimate knowledge. Thus the request in verse 12 comes as a consequence of acknowledging the need for such knowledge. But verse 11b, if parallel with verse 11a, is quite obscure in Hebrew: “as your fear (so is) your rage.” Revised Standard Version is unintelligible. Good News Translation takes “your fear” to be an objective genitive phrase, that is, fear of God, produced by his fury. New Jerusalem Bible has “Your wrath matches the fear of You” (similarly New International Version). Traduction œcuménique de la Bible is “The more we fear you, the more we know your fury,” which it explains in a footnote: “your fury is up to the measure of the fear you inspire.” New Jerusalem Bible has “who fears you, your wrath?” Another possible rendering is to carry over the verb “who understands” from line a and translate line b “and (who understands) your fury, so that he shows you due reverence?” New American Bible is different: “or (who knows) your indignation toward those who fear you?” And Dahood translates “or (who can understand) that those who fear you can be the object of your fury?” In face of such diversity, the most a translator can do is choose the rendering that seems to fit the context best. If the translator follows Good News Translation and Revised Standard Version power of thy anger, in many languages this noun phrase will have to be recast as a clause, “Who has felt the powerful effect when God is angry?” In languages in which an object must be associated with God’s anger, it is possible to say “… when God is angry at the bad things which people do?”

Verse 12 begins the series of petitions found in each succeeding verse. The verse is a plea; the psalmist asks God to make him realize how short life is, so as to get a heart of wisdom (see Deut 32.29). The literal translation to number our days in line a would mean “to keep an account of the days (already lived),” so as to be aware of how many are still left. Bible en français courant translates, “Make us understand that our days are numbered.”

Wisdom, as elsewhere in Psalms and Proverbs, here includes heavy emphasis on reverence for God. In languages in which “become wise” merely means to be bright and intelligent, it will be better to make the content of such wisdom associated with God; for example, “so that we may have God’s wisdom in our hearts.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on the Book of Psalms. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1991. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .