Translation commentary on Proverbs 19:15

The thought expressed in this saying is that laziness causes a person to give in to sleep even when he should be busy.

“Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep”: “Slothfulness” is “laziness.” “Casts into a deep sleep” is literally “causes a deep sleep to fall.” The verb related to the noun “sleep” here is used in 10.5 of the worthless son. In some languages “Slothfulness” is better expressed as “a lazy person”; one translation says, for example, “Lazy people are sound asleep all the time.”

“And an idle person will suffer hunger”: “An idle person” is literally “idle soul.” “Idle” translates the same word rendered “slack” in 10.4 and means lazy or lacking in ambition. “Will suffer hunger” means “will be hungry,” which comes about because he does not work. Revised English Bible translates the whole saying “Sloth leads to sleep and negligence to starvation.” Biblia Dios Habla Hoy has “Laziness causes deep sleep and the lazy person will have to go hungry.”

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 19:15)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Proverbs 19:15:

  • Kupsabiny: “A lazy person lies down idle,
    and the one who does not work will always suffer hunger.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “The lazy ones are going fast to sleep,
    they have to live with empty stomachs.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “If you (sing.) are lazy and just keep-on sleeping, you (sing.) will-be- very -hungry.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “The lazy person will-be-hungry in-the-future, because he does not move but rather he just stays-asleep.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • English: “Those who are lazy sleep soundly,
    but if they are lazy, they will be hungry because of not earning money to buy food.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

SIL Translator’s Notes on Proverbs 19:15

19:15

Notice the parallelism. The underlined parallel parts describe the cause. The parts with bold print describe the result. At the same time, the second line gives the overall result of the first line.

15a
Laziness brings on deep sleep,

15b and the shiftless man goes hungry.

The overall meaning is that a lazy person does nothing but sleep. This idleness leads to hunger.

19:15a

Laziness brings on deep sleep: The phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as brings on deep sleep is more literally “causes to fall into a deep sleep.” The parallel with “an idle soul” in 19:15b implies that the lazy person spends much of his time sleeping rather than working. Some other ways to translate this clause are:

Sloth leads to sleep (Revised English Bible)
-or-
Laziness throws one into a deep sleep (God’s Word)

In some languages, it is better to express an abstract noun such as Laziness in terms of “a person who is lazy.” For example:

Lazy people sleep soundly (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
Lazy people sleep a lot (New Century Version)

19:15b

and an idle soul will suffer hunger: The phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as an idle soul refers to a person who is negligent or shiftless. If a person remains idle rather than working, he will experience hunger as a result. Some other ways to translate this clause are:

and a negligent person will go hungry (Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures)
-or-
and an idle person will suffer hunger (English Standard Version)
-or-
and a person who never works will starve

General Comment on 19:15a–b

In some languages, it may be more natural to combine and/or reorder the parallel parts. For example:

Go ahead and be lazy; sleep on, but you will go hungry. (Good News Translation)
-or-
If you are lazy and sleep your time away, you will starve. (Contemporary English Version)

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