patience / patient

Click here to view graphically

The Hebrew and Greek terms that are translated as “patient” or “patience” are translated in a variety of ways.

Eugene Nida (1952, p. 130) gives some examples:

“Peace is the quality of the soul; patience is the behavior of the soul. The Aymara of Bolivia have described patience well by the phrase ‘a waiting heart.’

“The Ngäbere of Panama describe patience in more vivid terms. They say that it is ‘chasing down your temper.’ The impatient person lets his temper run away with him. Patience requires one to “chase down his temper” and get it under control [see also Mairasi down below].

“The Yucateco describe patience as ‘strength not to fall.’ This seems to include almost more than patience, but it is important to note that this Yucateco translation recognizes that impatience means ‘falling.’ For some of us, who tend to take a certain secret pride in our impatience—describing it as energetic drive—it might be well to recognize that impatience is failure, while patience is strength.

“The San Blas Kuna in Panama use a rather strange phrase to depict patience. They say ‘not caring what happens.’ But this is not meant as condoning foolhardy indifference to life and danger. It reflects a kind of reckless confidence in God, a confidence not bred of desperation but of utter reliance. The patient person is not concerned about what happens; he is willing to wait in confidence.”

In Mairasi, the phrase that is employed is “stop (our) anger” (source: Enggavoter 2004) and in Suki “slow careful thinking way” is used (source L. and E. Twyman in The Bible Translator 1953, p. 91ff. )

In Kwang an expression is used that directly translates as “carry one’s head” (source: Mark Vanderkooi right here ), and in Q’anjob’al it is translated with the phrase “large stomach” (source: Newberry and Kittie Cox in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 91ff. ).

In Akan, it is typically translated as abodwokyɛre, lit. “chest cool longer.” (Source: Kofi Agyekum in International Journal of Language and Communication 2015, p. 35ff. )

See also Seat of the Mind / Seat of Emotions.

Translation commentary on Sirach 2:4

Accept whatever is brought upon you: Good News Translation expresses this very simply with “Accept whatever happens to you” (similarly Contemporary English Version “… everything that happens”).

And in changes that humble you be patient: The problem here is that the Greek word translated changes does not mean that. It is very close to a word that does mean that, and translations take it in this sense: reverses in one’s fortunes. However, the word actually used here refers to something that is given in exchange for something else, a “price.” In the Greek Old Testament the word is used ten other times, and in every case it refers to a price paid or something exchanged for something else. (The references are Lev 27.10, 33; Deut 23.18; 2 Sam 24.24; 1 Kgs 10.28; 21.2; Job 28.17; Isa 43.3; Lam 5.4; Amos 5.12.) If we take the word here in the sense it has elsewhere, we can translate this line literally as “and be patient in the prices of your humiliation.” Some manuscripts read “price” as singular. The Handbook suggests that the meaning is “and be patient even when it costs you your pride [or, when you have to swallow your pride / when you have to pay the price of humiliation].” Admittedly, this is not far from what Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation do say, and those who cannot or do not wish to work with the idea of a price paid may use Good News Translation as a good model. It is better than Revised Standard Version. The idea of this line will be developed further in the next verse, where the noun “humiliation” will appear again. In languages that do not have the passive voice, we may say “and be patient when others humiliate you.”

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Sirach. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.