PROV 30:33 Interlinear View

SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 30:1–33: Here are the sayings of Agur

This section is a collection of verses that were written or organized by Agur the son of Jakeh.Some scholars think that Agur wrote or collected only verses 1–4, 1–6, 1–9, or 1–14. UBS (page 617), Toy (page 518), and Longman (page 513) are among those who list some of these possibilities. The GNT indicates with quotation marks that Agur’s words end after v.6. No other versions indicate that Agur’s words end before the end of the chapter. Waltke (volume I, page 26) strongly defends the entire chapter as the “oracle” of Agur on the basis of its structural unity. Kidner (page 178) divides the chapter into two sections (1–9) and (10–33), but identifies both as coming from “the sage.” The title of this section (30:1a) is the only place in Scripture that Agur is mentioned. The section is divided into paragraphs that vary from one to five verses. The Notes will suggest a paragraph heading for all paragraphs after 30:1a. It is suggested that you use similar headings in your translation to help the readers follow the changes of topic and audience.

The first nine verses contain Agur’s personal thoughts and prayers. Some are addressed to God, others to his audience. The rest of the chapter contains proverbs on various topics. Some are individual warnings or statements (30:10, 17, 20, 32–33). Others contain several kinds of lists of four items each. The lists in verses 15b–16, 18–19, 21–23, and 29–31 have the same form as the numerical proverb in 6:16–19. (See the paragraph summary for 6:16–19 and the notes on 6:16a–b.) The lists in verses 11–14 and 24–28 have different forms. These will be described in the paragraph summaries where they first occur.

Some other headings for this section are:

The Words of Agur (ESV)

Wise Words from Agur (NCV)

Words that the LORD caused Agur to make known

Paragraph 30:32–33 A warning to stop behavior that leads to quarrels

Verse 30:32 is a warning to stop foolish boasting and any plans to do evil. The reason for this warning (30:33) is that this kind of behavior makes other people angry and results in strife.

30:33

Notice the parallel parts that are similar in meaning. Each of the underlined parts describes a particular action. Each of the parts in bold print describes the predictable result of this action.

^33aFor as the churning of milk yields butter,

^33band the twisting of the nose draws blood,

^33cso the stirring of anger brings forth strife.

The parallel words “churning, twisting,” and “stirring” are all translations of the same Hebrew word. It means “pressing” or “squeezing.”

The three parallel verbs “yields, draws,” and “brings forth” are also translations of the same Hebrew verb. The Hebrew word is literally “causes to come out.”

In many languages, it will be necessary to use different terms for each occurrence of these two Hebrew words, as the BSB does.

In Hebrew, this verse is a metaphor. The three lines are more literally:

^33aFor the squeezing of milk produces butter,

^33band squeezing of a nose produces blood

^33cand squeezing of anger produces strife.

The metaphor gives a reason for the warning to keep quiet in 30:32. The first two lines are parallel illustrations in the metaphor. The last line is the topic of the metaphor. This line gives the main point.

The metaphor compares the action of “stirring up anger” to the actions of “churning” milk and “twisting” someone’s nose. The similarity is that each of these actions produces predictable results. Before discussing different ways to translate the metaphor as a whole, the Notes will discuss each line separately.

30:33a

For as the churning of milk yields butter,

For/Because it is true that shaking/pressing milk in a leather bag will result in sour milk and curds,
The reason is that if you^(sing) shake milk in a skin bottle, it will turn into curdled milk or yogurt.

For as the churning of milk yields butter: There are two main ways to interpret the method described by churning of milk and the products that are produced:

This line refers to the process of shaking milk in a skin bottle or bag until the bacteria inside the bag sours or curdles the milk. This sour or curdled milk is known as “leben” in Arabic, and Bedouins still serve it to their guests. It does not refer to butter. If this curdled milk is twisted in a cloth, it produces curdsTWOT #650a and #672a and Enhanced BDB #2461 all understand that curds ḥemʾah are produced from milk ḥalab. (also called cottage cheese or yogurt).According to NIDOTTE #2772, ḥemʾah refers to “all kinds of by-products of milk,” including curdled milk, cottage cheese, yogurt, and butter. The separate NIDOTTE article on “milk, milk products” lists “curdled milk, butter” for ḥemʾah. For example:
For as pressing milk produces curds (NRSV)
For the stirring of milk brings forth curds (NAB) (ESV, NRSV, REB, NAB)
This line refers to the process of shaking milk or cream in a skin bottle or bag until it produces butter. This product refers only to butter. It is known as “leben/laban” in Arabic. For example:
Just as stirring milk makes butter (NCV)
If you churn milk, you get butter (GNT) (BSB, CEV, GW, KJV, NASB, NCV, NET, NIV, NJB, NJPS, GNT)

The Meaning Lines in the Display will follow interpretation (1), along with most scholars.Commentaries that prefer interpretation (1) include Fox, Longman, Toy, Whybray, Cohen, Scott, Cook, McKane, and Murphy. Commentaries that prefer interpretation (2) include UBS, Ross, Kidner, Garrett, and Delitzsch. Waltke says that churning cream produces butter. Butter is normally made from churning cream, not milk. Hebrew does not have a separate word for “cream,” and the Hebrew word for butter is also the word for “curds.”

However, most versions follow interpretation (2). It is recommended that you follow the interpretation that best fits the understanding and experience of people in your language area.

30:33b

and the twisting of the nose draws blood,

and hitting/twisting someone’s nose will cause it to bleed.
If you^(sing) hit/squeeze a person’s nose, blood will come out.

and the twisting of the nose draws blood: This line means that squeezing, striking, or twisting a person’s nose causes it to bleed. Some other ways to translate this line are:

by wringing the nose you produce blood (NJB)

and striking the nose causes bleeding (NLT)

30:33c

so the stirring of anger brings forth strife.”

In the same way, it is also true that making someone angry will always result in a quarrel/fight.
Similarly, if you^(sing) persist in causing other people to be angry, there will definitely be trouble/quarreling.

so the stirring of anger brings forth strife: This line refers to words or actions that cause people to become more and more angry. The inevitable result of increased anger is strife. This word may refer here to disagreements or quarrels. It may also refer to lawsuits in court.Garrett (page 243), Longman (page 533). Some other ways to translate this line are:

so stirring up anger causes quarrels (NLT)

If you stir up anger, you get into trouble. (GNT)

30:33a–c

The note on 30:33 identified the three lines of this verse as a metaphor. Some ways to translate this metaphor are:

Keep the metaphor. For example:
^33aFor pressing milk produces curds,
^33bpressing the nose produces blood,
^33cand pressing anger produces strife. (ESV)
Change the metaphor to a simile with a similar structure to the three lines of the BSB. For example:
^33aFor as the pressing of milk produces curd,
^33band the pressing of the nose produces blood,
^33cso the pressing of anger leads to strife. (REB)
Keep the comparison but use a different structure. For example:
^33aIf you shake milk, it turns to curds.
^33bIf you twist someone’s nose, it bleeds.
^33cSimilarly, if you make people angry, there will be quarrels.

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: grammar-connect-logic-result

כִּ֤י

that/for/because/then/when

For here introduces the reason for obeying the command stated in the previous verse. Use the most natural way in your language to indicate reason. Alternate translation: “Stop doing these things because”

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

מִ֪יץ חָלָ֡ב י֘וֹצִ֤יא חֶמְאָ֗ה וּֽ⁠מִיץ־אַ֭ף י֣וֹצִיא דָ֑ם וּ⁠מִ֥יץ אַ֝פַּ֗יִם י֣וֹצִיא רִֽיב

churning_of milk produces butter and,squeezing_of also/though produces blood and,squeezing anger produces strife

Here, Agur mentions three cause-and-effect relationships in order to teach that doing what he described in the previous verse will have bad results. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use a simile. Alternate translation: “just like the squeezing of milk brings out butter, and the squeezing of the nose brings out blood, and the squeezing of nostrils brings out strife, so does doing these things cause bad things to happen”

Note 3 topic: translate-unknown

מִ֪יץ חָלָ֡ב י֘וֹצִ֤יא חֶמְאָ֗ה

churning_of milk produces butter

Here, Agur refers to stirring liquid milk until it thickens into a solid food substance called butter. If your readers would not be familiar with milk or the process for making butter, you could use the name of something similar in your area, or you could use a more general term. Alternate translation: “stirring some liquids causes them to harden”

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / metonymy

וּ⁠מִ֥יץ אַ֝פַּ֗יִם

and,squeezing anger

Here, squeezing of nostrils refers to making people angry. The word nostrils means “anger” by association with the way that a person who is angry breathes heavily through his nose, causing his nostrils to open wide. Your language and culture may also associate anger with a particular part of the body. If so, you could use an expression involving that part of the body in your translation. You could also use plain language. Alternate translation: “and making people foam at the mouth” or “and angering people”

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

י֣וֹצִיא רִֽיב

produces produces strife

Here, Agur refers to causing people to argue as if strife were an object that someone brings out. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: “causes strife between people”

Note 6 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns

רִֽיב

strife

See how you translated the abstract noun strife in [16:28](../16/28.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 30:33

Hebrew word order