angry

The Hebrew, Greek and Latin that is translated as “(was or became) angry” in English is translated in Kwere as “saw anger.” In Kwere, emotions are always paired with sensory verbs (seeing or smelling or hearing). (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

In Bariai it is “to have grumbling interiors” (source: Bariai Back Translation).

See also anger and feel (terror, pain, suffering, anxiety).

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 Sirach 10:6

In verses 6-8 ben Sira traces the wreckage caused by “pride” from relations among acquaintances to relations among nations. In the Greek text the word “pride” occurs in all three verses.

Do not be angry with your neighbor for any injury: Instead of any injury, New Revised Standard Version has “every injury,” which is better. The meaning is that we are not to be angry with someone every time that person does something wrong. The implication is that anger might be justified in some cases, but not all. Everyone has little faults, and if we held them against people, we would be perpetually angry. Good News Translation expresses this in idiomatic English: “Don’t be angry with someone for every little thing he does wrong.” The word “little” represents nothing in the text, but it is implied; in fact, in English the author’s meaning is clearer with this word than without it. Neighbor may refer to anyone with whom one comes in contact, though naturally the more one knows a person, the more aware one is of that person’s shortcomings. Injury refers to an injustice of any kind, but in the context it refers to some offense committed against us. The occasions when we are most likely to feel slighted or insulted by someone are those occasions when our pride has been injured, as seen in the next line. An alternative model for this line is “Don’t be angry with people every time they slightly hurt you.”

And do not attempt anything by acts of insolence is literally “and do nothing in deeds of pride.” This may be interpreted two ways. First, it may mean broadly “commit no act of pride; do nothing out of an arrogant motive.” Second, it may take a narrower meaning: “do nothing out of spite, in reaction to your own hurt pride.” Good News Translation interprets it in this way. This interpretation is really nothing more than an application of the broader interpretation to this particular context, and the Handbook suggests that translators follow Good News Translation. We may also use a conditional clause; for example, “If you feel that someone has injured your pride [or, caused you to lose a lot of face], don’t try to hurt the person in return.”

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• Don’t be angry with people every time they slightly hurt you. If you feel that they have injured your pride [or, caused you to lose face], don’t try to hurt the person in return.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Sirach. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.