Translation commentary on Proverbs 25:14

“Like clouds and wind without rain”: Again the Hebrew lacks the comparison marker equivalent to “Like”, but this meaning is clearly intended. The feature shared by “clouds” and “wind” and the person in line 2 is their failure to produce what is expected; Contemporary English Version renders this line as “rain clouds that don’t bring rain.”

“Is a man who boasts of a gift he does not give”: “A gift he does not give” is literally “a gift of falseness.” We may translate, for example, “The person who brags about gifts he never gives is like clouds and wind that give no rain” or “If people promise to give something and don’t give it, they are like the clouds and wind that come but there isn’t any rain [with them].”

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 25:14)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Proverbs 25:14:

  • Kupsabiny: “A person who promises something to another and does not give it, is like a cloud or a wind that does not bring rain at all.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “A person who promises [but] does not give,
    is like thunder that gives no rain.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “A man who does not fulfill his promise is like a dark-cloud and wind which does not bring rain.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “The one-who-promises a gift but gives nothing, he is like the (situation of) being-cloudy and being-windy and not raining.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • English: “When someone promises to give a gift to us but never gives it,
    that disappoints us as much as clouds and wind that come but do not bring any rain.” (Source: Translation for Translators)