“Ignored all my counsel”: To “ignore” is to pay no attention, to treat something as unimportant or of no value. This is sometimes expressed idiomatically as “turned your back on.” “Counsel” is used here in the sense of “advice.”
“You would have none of my reproof” is literally “You did not want. . ..” “Reproof” is the same Hebrew term as used in verse 23.
We may translate verse 25, for example, “You [plural] paid no attention to the advice I gave you, and you refused to let me correct your ways.”
Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Proverbs 1:25:
Kupsabiny: “You (plur.) refuse all my words/things that I use to bring you back, and you do not love/accept what I am advising you.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “You showed no concern for the advice I gave You did not listen to my rebuke.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “and because you (plur.) ignored all my advices and rebuking of you (plur.),” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “You have-been-turning-a-deaf-ear-to what I have been warning you.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
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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 Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
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 second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used anata (あなた) is typically used when the speaker is humbly addressing another person.
In these verses, however, omae (おまえ) is used, a cruder second person pronoun, that Jesus for instance chooses when chiding his disciples. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
Notice the parallel parts that are similar in meaning:
25a because you neglectedall my counsel,
25b and wanted none ofmy correction,
In some languages, it may be more natural to combine and/or reorder the parallel parts of this verse. See 1:25a–b (combined/reordered) in the Display.
1:25a
you neglected all my counsel: The Hebrew noun ʿeṣah, which most English versions translate as “advice” or counsel, refers here to the recommendations that Wisdom made to her audience. They repeatedly ignored this advice.
In some languages, it may be more natural to translate counsel as a verb. For example:
you repeatedly ignored me when I counseled you
1:25b
wanted none of my correction: Another way to translate this line is:
did not listen when I corrected you (New Century Version)
For the word correction, see the note on “rebuke” in 1:23a.
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