PROV 6:8 Interlinear View

SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 6:1–19: Here are several practical admonitions and warnings

This section contains practical warnings about four specific and unrelated areas of behavior. The first warning is about the danger of cosigning a loan for another person (6:1–5). The second paragraph speaks highly of the diligence of the ant and warns against laziness (6:6–11). The third paragraph briefly describes the behavior of a worthless scoundrel (6:12–15). The last paragraph is in the form of a numerical proverb and lists seven sins that the LORD hates (6:16–19).

Some other headings for this section are:

More Warnings (GNT)

Dangers of Being Foolish (NCV)

Warnings Against Folly (NIV)

Paragraph 6:6–11

In this paragraph, the author introduces a different topic. He gives advice to lazy people, addressing them directly as “O slacker.” In some languages, it may be necessary to indicate this change of topic in some way. See the translation advice in the note on 6:6a.

6:8

Notice the parallel parts that are similar in meaning:

^8ait prepares its provisions in summer;

^8bit gathers its food at harvest.

These lines function together to emphasize that ants gather and store food supplies during times when food is available. They do this to prepare for times when food cannot be found.

6:8a–b

(combined/reordered)

They gather food during the dry/harvest season and store it so that they will have food to eat during the winter/rainy season.
They gather their food when it is available and store it in their nests for times when there is no food.

prepares…gathers: In Hebrew, the word prepares means “gets ready.”BDB (#3559), TWOT (#964). Ants prepare food supplies by gathering them and storing them in their nests. Other ways to translate these terms are:

procures…stores up (NAB)

in summer…at harvest: No contrast is intended between these two terms. In Palestine, various crops were harvested during the warm season, from March to September. Ants stored food in their nests during these months to prepare for the winter season, when there was no food.

Some English versions make this information explicit. For example:

they store up their food during the summer, getting ready for winter (GNT)

they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter (NLT)

You will need to decide whether to make the ants’ purpose explicit in your translation.

In parts of the world where there is no summer and winter, some other ways to translate these terms are:

General Comment on 6:8a–b

Use one expression for the parallel terms in summer and at harvest. For example:
harvest season (CEV)
summer (GNT)
Use terms for seasons in your culture that fit this context. For example:
dry season
rainy/typhoon season
Omit the reference to a specific season, and focus instead on the significance of that season in the context. For example:
when food is available…when food is not available

In some languages, it may be more natural to combine and/or reorder these parallel lines. For example:

they gather their food during the dry/harvest season and store it

6:8a

it prepares its provisions in summer;

they nevertheless gather food during the hot/dry season.
Even though that is true, ants prepare their food in the summer.

6:8b

it gathers its food at harvest.

When it is time to harvest grain, they store it in their nests/homes.
They gather and store it at harvest season.

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: grammar-connect-logic-contrast

תָּכִ֣ין

prepares

The idea in this verse is contrary to what one would expect after knowing the information in the previous verse. Use the most natural way in your language to indicate a contrast. Alternate translation: “even so, prepares”

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / parallelism

תָּכִ֣ין בַּ⁠קַּ֣יִץ לַחְמָ֑⁠הּ אָגְרָ֥ה בַ֝⁠קָּצִ֗יר מַאֲכָלָֽ⁠הּ

prepares in,summer food_of,its gathers at,harvest food_of,its

These two clauses mean basically the same thing. The second clause emphasizes the meaning of the first by repeating the same idea with different words. If it would be helpful to your readers, you could connect the clauses with a word that shows that the second clause is repeating the first one, not saying something additional. Alternate translation: “prepares its bread in the summer; yes, it gathers its food in the harvest”

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

תָּכִ֣ין & אָגְרָ֥ה

prepares & gathers

Here, prepares and gathers refer to collecting and storing food for winter, which is the time when food is scarce. If it would be helpful in your language, you could state this explicitly. Alternate translation: “acquires … it stockpiles”

Note 4 topic: writing-pronouns

לַחְמָ֑⁠הּ אָגְרָ֥ה & מַאֲכָלָֽ⁠הּ

food_of,its gathers & food_of,its

In this verse, its refers to “the ant” mentioned in [6:7](../06/07.md), which is a collective word for ants in general. If it would be helpful in your language, you could state this explicitly. Alternate translation: “the ant’s bread … the ant gathers its food” or “the ants’ bread … the ants gather their food”

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

בַּ⁠קַּ֣יִץ & בַ֝⁠קָּצִ֗יר

in,summer & at,harvest

In the location where this book was written, summer is the time of year when people harvest crops. If it would be helpful in your language, you could state this explicitly. Alternate translation: “in the time for harvesting crops … in the harvesting time”

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 6:8

Hebrew word order