Translation commentary on Proverbs 1:30

It may be necessary to make clear that verse 30 continues the reason given in verse 29. We may say, for example, “Also, you wanted none of my advice” or “Neither would you let me counsel you.” “Counsel” renders the same word used in verse 25.

“Despised all my reproof”: “Despised” is used in verse 7 where it is said that “fools despise wisdom.” See there for “despise”. In verse 23 Wisdom asked the people to pay attention “to my reproof,” that is, to the correction Wisdom gives to the fools because of their errors. The sense is the same in this verse. We may translate, for example, “Also, you did not accept my advice and you refused to let me correct you.” Contemporary English Version has “You rejected my advice and paid no attention when I warned you.” See also Good News Translation.

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 .

complete verse (Proverbs 1:30)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Proverbs 1:30:

  • Kupsabiny: “and again because you are not listening to what I am telling you and what I advise/protect you against.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “You have not listened to my advice!
    You had no concern for my instruction.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “You (plur.) ignore my counsels and you (plur.) said-something-bad about my rebuking of you (plur.).” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “You turned- your -backs on my advice and you did not pay-attention-to what I warned.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)

1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)

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 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.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also pronoun for “God”.

SIL Translator’s Notes on Proverbs 1:30

1:30

Notice the parallel parts that are similar in meaning:

30a They accepted none of my counsel;

30b they despised all my reproof.

This verse gives two more parallel reasons for the consequences described in 1:31.

1:30a–b

accepted none of my counsel…despised all my reproof: The phrases in this verse have similar meanings to 1:25, which has “neglected” for accepted none of and “wanted none of” for despised. In Hebrew, the word accepted means “consent to,” “comply with,” or “be willing to obey.” The word despised means “undervalued” or “treated with disdain.” The way a person shows disdain for someone’s rebuke is to ignore it, so the Good News Translation has:

You have never…paid any attention when I corrected you. (Good News Translation)

© 2012, 2016, 2020 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.