anger

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The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated as “anger” or similar in English in this verse is translated with a variety of solutions (Bratcher / Nida says: “Since anger has so many manifestations and seems to affect so many aspects of personality, it is not strange that expressions used to describe this emotional response are so varied”).

  • Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “be warm inside”
  • Mende: “have a cut heart”
  • Mískito: “have a split heart”
  • Tzotzil: “have a hot heart”
  • Mossi: “a swollen heart”
  • Western Kanjobal: “fire of the viscera”
  • San Blas Kuna: “pain in the heart”
  • Chimborazo Highland Quichua: “not with good eye”
  • Chichewa: “have a burning heart” (source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation) (see also anger burned in him)
  • Citak: two different terms, one meaning “angry” and one meaning “offended,” both are actually descriptions of facial expressions. The former can be represented by an angry stretching of the eyes or by an angry frown. The latter is similarly expressed by an offended type of frown with one’s head lowered. (Source: Graham Ogden)

In Akan, a number of metaphors are used, most importantly abufuo, lit. “weedy chest” (the chest is seen as a container that contains the heart but can also metaphorically be filled with other fluids etc.), but also abufuhyeε lit. “hot/burning weedy chest” and anibereε, lit. “reddened eyes.” (Source: Gladys Nyarko Ansah in Kövecses / Benczes / Szelid 2024, p. 21ff.)

See also God’s anger and angry.

Translation commentary on Sirach 1:22

Unrighteous anger cannot be justified: This refers to anger that has no cause—losing one’s temper for no good reason. There is no excuse for it and it accomplishes nothing. Good News Translation says “There is no excuse for unjustified anger,” and Contemporary English Version has “It is never right to be angry without a reason.”

For a man’s anger tips the scale to his ruin is literally “for the weight of his anger [is/will be] his downfall.” The image of a scale—a pair of balances—is implied in the Greek word used for “weight,” but a scale is not actually mentioned. Anger causes the scale to weigh downwards. The general idea of the image here comes across in “anger like that is enough to ruin a person [or, cause a person’s downfall].” A man does not refer exclusively to males, but to all humans. As is often the case, Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version express the idea of a man with a second person pronoun to avoid an exclusive male reference. This works well in English, and is appropriate to these sections of Sirach where the author is giving his reader advice. Indeed, the author himself often does this.

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.