enemy / foe

The Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic and Latin that is translated as “enemy” or “foe” in English is translated in the Hausa Common Language Bible as “friends of front,” i.e., the person standing opposite you in a battle. (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)

In North Alaskan Inupiatun it is translated with a term that implies that it’s not just someone who hates you, but one who wants to do you harm (Source: Robert Bascom), in Tarok as ukpa ìkum or “companion in war/fighting,” and in Ikwere as nye irno m or “person who hates me” (source for this and one above: Chuck and Karen Tessaro in this newsletter ).

Translation commentary on Sirach 6:1

And do not become an enemy instead of a friend: The main difference between Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation here is that Revised Standard Version focuses on becoming what you have not been, rather than being one thing rather than another. Revised Standard Version is closer to the Greek, but Good News Translation is certainly acceptable. Perhaps New English Bible captures it best with “Do not change from a friend into an enemy.” In some languages enemy will be rendered “person who hates you,” so an alternative model for this line is “Do not hate a person instead of being his friend.” However, this first line follows logically from 5.15 as follows:

Do nothing that would hurt anyone, no matter how small a matter it would be. You would be their enemy instead of a friend.

For a bad name incurs shame and reproach: The connector for introduces what will happen if a person becomes an enemy of a friend. A person’s name is his “reputation” (Good News Translation), the opinion others have of him. Incurs is literally “will inherit.” The Greek nouns for shame and reproach are expressed in Good News Translation as “disgrace”; it would be hard to make a distinction between the two Greek nouns in this context. For shame see the comments on 4.21.

So fares the double-tongued sinner: This renders same Greek clause found in the last line of 5.9; the word for double-tongued is also found in 5.14. Good News Translation joins this line with the previous line, but with limited success. A better translation is “A bad reputation earns you disgrace. And this is just what people who are deceitful and unreliable deserve.”

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.