justice

The Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Ge’ez, and Latin that is translated as “justice” in English is translated in American Sign Language with a sign that describes the quality or principle of fairness, righteousness, and impartiality in treating other people. A literal back-translation of the signs are “FOLLOW(God is implied) ACTIONS, DECISIONS JUST-RIGHT”. A more idiomatic back-translation would be: “actions and decisions are right/fitting/just in accordance to God’s will.” The movement in the signs itself helps to indicate that this is a noun, not a verb. (Source: Ruth Anna Spooner, Ron Lawer)


“Justice” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor

Translation commentary on Wisdom 1:8

Therefore no one who utters unrighteous things will escape notice: As discussed above, this verse may be translated as a new sentence, beginning with “That is why…” or “And so….” Other possible approaches are “That is why no one can speak wickedly without God being aware of it” and “That is why God always knows when someone speaks wickedly.”

And justice, when it punishes, will not pass him by: Justice is regarded as a person here, just as Wisdom is in verse 4. It refers, of course, to God’s justice. The meaning is that God will surely punish everyone who speaks wicked things (verse 6). Good News Translation expresses the idea well in when it punishes as “sooner or later.” Another possibility for this line is “Sooner or later God will punish all these people.”

An alternative model for verses 7-8 is:

• The Lord’s [or, Lord God’s] spirit covers the whole world, gives everything in it its proper place, and knows what we say. That is why God always knows when someone says wicked things. Sooner or later God will punish all these people.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Wisdom of Solomon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2004. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.