wisdom

Click here to view graphically

The Hebrew, Aramaic, 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)

See also wisdom (Proverbs) and knowledge.

complete verse (Ecclesiastes 1:17)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ecclesiastes 1:17:

  • Kupsabiny: “I have tried as much as possible to know the difference between wisdom and foolishness and (between) experience and madness! But I saw that, this is like a person who is chasing the wind.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “So, for the sake of learning, I, the one who has wisdom, thought about what it is to go on behaving recklessly and becoming a fool. But I learned that this also, was just like chasing the wind.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “I studied well the difference between wisdom and foolishness, but I realized that this also has no value; as-if like I am only chasing the wind.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “So I determined to learn more about being wise and to learn about knowing about many things, and also to learn about doing things that are very foolish. But I found out that trying to understand those things was also useless, like chasing the wind.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Ecclesiastes 1:17

I applied my mind is the same phrase we saw in verse 13.

To know wisdom places the emphasis on experience, because the verb know, used three times in this verse (“know wisdom,” “know madness,” “perceive”), is often used in the sense of experiencing something (as in Gen 4.1). Qoheleth experiments to find out what wisdom truly is, and what difference it makes to a person’s life.

But Qoheleth also wanted to know madness and folly, that is, to know more about the foolish and evil things that people do, and what their negative and positive (if any) value was. Qoheleth describes two opposites or extremes, wisdom and folly, indicating that his experiment was thorough and comprehensive (see also 2.9-10).

Madness is not mental illness but is a word similar to foolishness. The special Hebrew term here is a word found only in Qoheleth. Translators should seek a word that does not refer to illness, so a word like “stupidity” would suit. The translator can use two equivalent words of similar meaning or use a single term to express the idea.

I perceived (literally “knew”) indicates that Qoheleth “learned,” “found out,” or “discovered” by this testing process that he was attempting something beyond his power to fully comprehend. This also refers back to the experiment to test both wisdom and folly. Because the demonstrative pronoun this leaves the meaning unclear, it can be clarified by adding a phrase like “in trying to do this.” This produces a possible translation, “I discovered, in trying to know these things, that I was…,” or “I came to the conclusion that trying to understand these things is like….”

For comments on a striving after wind, see verse 14. Qoheleth once again tells us he discovered that it is not possible to learn all about life; it is like trying to “shepherd the wind.”

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Zogbo, Lynell. A Handbook on the Book of Ecclesiates. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .