PROV 19:15 Interlinear View

SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 10:1–22:16: This is the main collection of Solomon’s proverbs

This section is the main collection of Solomon’s proverbs. It has a very different structure from the longer poetic lectures of chapters 1–9. It consists mostly of individual couplets (two-line poems) that are each one verse in length. With the exception of the title (10:1a), paragraph breaks will not be indicated in the Notes or Display. You may of course choose to start each proverb as a separate paragraph in your translation.

In chapters 10–15, most of these one-verse couplets express a contrast between the two lines. One of the more common contrasts is between the righteous/wise and the wicked/foolish and the different consequences of their conduct.

In chapters 16:1–22:16, more topics are discussed. There is more emphasis on the role of the king and other leaders. In these chapters, there are few proverbs with contrasting lines. Some of the parallel lines are similar in meaning. More frequently, the second line adds to what the first line says or gives an example. Most of the verses have no obvious connection with the previous or following proverbs.UBS (page 214), Fox (page 509), McKane (page 413). Many scholars, including McKane, point out that there are some topical groupings as well as poetic connections. These include the repetition of certain words or sounds. This observation does not deny the individual nature of most of the proverbs in this Section.

Two of the types of proverbs in this section are not found in chapters 1–9. One type contains logical reasoning from the lesser to the greater. See 11:31 for a list of these proverbs. There are also several varieties of complex “better than” proverbs. The most common have a contrasting situation in each line (see 12:9). For other varieties, see 16:16, 19:1, and 21:9.

Many of the proverbs in this section refer to categories of people who share a common trait. For example, they refer to the righteous, the wise, the poor, and the lazy. In Hebrew, some verses use singular forms to refer to these groups of people. Other verses use plural forms. Still others use a combination of singular and plural. See the note on 10:30a–b for one example. For most of these verses, the Notes will not comment on the difference between singular and plural forms. Use a natural way in your language to refer to one or more people who are in the same category.

Many of the proverbs in this section express a general principle in abstract terms. They are not addressed specifically to the readers. For example, 10:2a–b says:

Ill-gotten treasures are of no value,

but righteousness delivers from death.

However, the author intended his readers to understand these proverbs as advice that they should follow. In some languages, authors or speakers give advice more directly, using pronouns such as you^(sing), you^(plur), we^(dual), or we^(incl). See the note on 10:2 for translation suggestions.

Some other headings for this section are:

Proverbs of Solomon (NIV)

The Wise Words of Solomon (NCV)

Here are many wise things that Solomon said

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,

^15band 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,

Laziness makes a person fall into a sound/deep sleep.
If a person is lazy, he will sleep all the time.

Laziness brings on deep sleep: The phrase that the BSB translates as brings on deep sleep is more literally “causes to fall into a deep sleep.”The Hebrew verb used here has a causative sense. For the meaning of the noun “deep sleep,” see BDB (#8639), NIDOTTE (H9554) and TWOT (#2123a). TWOT defines the word as “deep sleep, sleepiness, lethargy.” However, it gives no support for the sense “lethargy.” BDB and NIDOTTE both define the word as “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 (REB)

Laziness throws one into a deep sleep (GW)

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 (NLT)

Lazy people sleep a lot (NCV)

19:15a–b

(combined/reordered)

If you^(sing) are lazy and waste your time sleeping, you will starve.

19:15b

and an idle soul will suffer hunger.

His idleness will result in hunger/starvation.
If he refuses to work, he will always be hungry.

and an idle soul will suffer hunger: The phrase that the BSB 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 (NJPS)

and an idle person will suffer hunger (ESV)

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. (GNT)

If you are lazy and sleep your time away, you will starve. (CEV)

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

עַ֭צְלָה תַּפִּ֣יל תַּרְדֵּמָ֑ה

laziness brings_on trance/deep_sleep/lethargy

Here Solomon speaks of a lazy person sleeping deeply as if Laziness were something that causes deep sleep to fall on that person. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: “Laziness makes a person sleep deeply” or “A lazy person sleeps deeply”

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / parallelism

וְ⁠נֶ֖פֶשׁ רְמִיָּ֣ה תִרְעָֽב

and,a_person_of idle suffer_hunger

Many proverbs have two parts that have a relationship to each other. The second part may strengthen the first part, give more details about the first part, or say something that is a contrast to the first part. Alternate translation: “and results in that life of idleness being hungry”

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns

עַ֭צְלָה & רְמִיָּ֣ה

laziness & idle

If your language does not use abstract nouns for the ideas of Laziness and idleness, you could express the same ideas in other ways. See how you translated idleness in [10:4](../10/04.md). Alternate translation: “Being lazy … being idle”

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / possession

וְ⁠נֶ֖פֶשׁ רְמִיָּ֣ה

and,a_person_of idle

Here Solomon is using the possessive form to describe a life that is characterized by idleness. If your language would not use the possessive form for this, you could use a different expression. Alternate translation: “and an idle life”

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / metonymy

וְ⁠נֶ֖פֶשׁ

and,a_person_of

Here, life refers to the person himself. See how you translated the same use of life in [8:36](../08/36.md).

OET-LV English word order (‘Reverse’ interlinear)

Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.

Acknowledgements: The Hebrew text, lemmas, and morphology are all thanks to the OSHB and some of the glosses are from Macula Hebrew.

OET interlinear PROV 19:15