pride

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The Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, and Latin that is translated as “pride” in English is translated as

  • “continually boasting” (Amganad Ifugao)
  • “lifting oneself up” (Tzeltal)
  • “answering haughtily” (Yucateco) (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • “unbent neck” (like llamas) (Kaqchikel) (source: Nida 1952, p. 151)
  • “praising oneself, saying: I am better” (Shipibo-Conibo) (source: Nida 1964, p. 237).
  • “bigness of head” (existing idiom: girman kai) in the Hausa Common Language Bible it is idiomatically translated as or (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
  • “trying to make yourself the leader” in Mairasi (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • “make oneself important” (sick upspeeln) in Low German (source: translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006)
  • “a haughty liver” in Yakan (source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • “lift head” in Upper Guinea Crioulo (source: Nicoleti 2012, p. 78)

See also proud / arrogant.

complete verse (Psalm 94:4)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 94:4:

  • Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
    “They pour out proud selfish words;
    all who do evil are filled with pride.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
  • Newari:
    “They [wicked people] speak arrogantly.
    All the evil doers keep on boasting.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon:
    “All of them who do evil (are) full-of/[emphasis marker] boasting.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Laarim:
    “They speak matters of pride,
    and all people who do bad matters,
    are very proud.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
  • Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
    “Mpaka lini watenda mabaya watajisifu?
    Mpaka lini waovu wote watajivuna?” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
  • English:
    “They do evil things, and they boast about doing them;
    how long will they be allowed to continue doing that?” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Psalm 94:3 - 94:4

In verse 3 the same construction is used as in verse 1: the first line is incomplete, lacking a verb; the second line repeats the first line and completes the thought with a verb: “How long (will) the wicked, Yahweh, how long will the wicked be glad?” The question is not a request for information; it is a way of reminding Yahweh that it is time he stop the boasting of the wicked. Instead of Good News Translation “be glad,” the verb “to gloat” better suits the context. In languages in which the question How long shall … will be interpreted as a request for information, it will be necessary to recast this to say, for example, “the wicked should stop being glad for the evil they do” or “evil people should stop boasting about the wicked things they do.”

Revised Standard Version takes verse 4 as declarative, placing it at the beginning of the next strophe (so New English Bible, New International Version, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy); but Good News Translation, An American Translation, New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, and Dahood take it as parallel with verse 3 (see Briggs, Kirkpatrick). In verse 4 Good News Translation has used the word “criminals” to describe those people (Revised Standard Version evildoers). The verse in Hebrew is “They pour out, they speak insolence, they boast, all the doers of evil.” Good News Translation “be proud and boast” translates the three verbal phrases; the verb pour out is used here figuratively, as in 19.2; 79.6. Weiser translates “they foam with rage,” which is possible but does not seem likely. The verb they boast in Hebrew does not have a complement; Good News Translation has supplied “about their crimes”; however, a translation can be “they are boastful” or “they brag about themselves.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on the Book of Psalms. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1991. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .