PROV 30:10 Parallel Verse View

Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible—click on any Bible version abbreviation down the left-hand side to see the verse in more of its context. Normally the OET discourages the reading of individual ‘verses’, but this view is only designed as a tool for doing comparisons of different translations—the older translations are further down the page (so you can read up from the bottom to trace the English translation history). The OET segments on this page are still very early looks into the unfinished texts of the Open English Translation of the Bible—please double-check these texts in advance before using in public.

Text critical issues=small word differences Clarity of original=clear Importance to us=normal (All still tentative.)

30:10 OSHB variant note: אדנ/ו: (x-qere) ’אֲדֹנָ֑י/ו’: lemma_113 n_1 morph_HNcmpc/Sp3ms id_206WH אֲדֹנָ֑י/ו

Key: khaki:verbs.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the OET-RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).

ULT Do not slander a slave to his master,
⇔ lest he curse you, and you be found guilty.

UST Never say bad things about servants to the people whom they serve.
⇔ If you do, then they will curse you, and people will hold you responsible for what you said.

OEB No OEB PROV book available

WEBBE ⇔ “Don’t slander a servant to his master,
⇔ lest he curse you, and you be held guilty.

WMBB (Same as above)

NET Do not slander a servant to his master,
⇔ lest he curse you, and you are found guilty.

LSV Do not accuse a servant to his lord,
Lest he disapprove of you, and you are found guilty.

FBV Don't slander a servant to his master, or he will curse you and you'll suffer for it.

T4T ⇔ Do not ◄slander/say bad things about► a worker to his boss;
⇔ if you do that, the worker will curse you, and cause you to have trouble.

LEB • Do not slander a servant to his master, or else he will curse you and you will be guilty.

BBE Do not say evil of a servant to his master, or he will put a curse on you, and you will get into trouble.

Moff Never slander a slave to his master:
⇔ the slave may curse you, to your undoing.
¶ 

JPS Slander not a servant unto his master, lest he curse thee, and thou be found guilty.

ASV ⇔ Slander not a servant unto his master,
⇔ Lest he curse thee, and thou be held guilty.

DRA Accuse not a servant to his master, lest he curse thee, and thou fall.

YLT Accuse not a servant unto his lord, Lest he disesteem thee, and thou be found guilty.

Drby Speak not too much about a servant to his master, lest he curse thee, and thou be held guilty.

RV Slander not a servant unto his master, lest he curse thee, and thou be held guilty.
(Slander not a servant unto his master, lest he curse thee/you, and thou/you be held guilty. )

SLT Thou shalt not slander the servant to his lord lest he shall curse thee, and thou wert guilty.

Wbstr Accuse not a servant to his master, lest he curse thee, and thou be found guilty.

KJB-1769 Accuse not a servant unto his master, lest he curse thee, and thou be found guilty.[fn]
(Accuse not a servant unto his master, lest he curse thee/you, and thou/you be found guilty. )

30.10 Accuse…: Heb. Hurt not with thy tongue

KJB-1611 [fn]Accuse not a seruant vnto his master; lest he curse thee, and thou be found guilty.
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above, apart from punctuation and footnotes)

30:10 Heb. hurt not with thy tongue.

Bshps Accuse not a seruaunt vnto his maister, lest he speake euyll of thee, and thou be hurt.
(Accuse not a servant unto his master, lest he speak evil of thee/you, and thou/you be hurt.)

Gnva Accuse not a seruant vnto his master, lest he curse thee, when thou hast offended.
(Accuse not a servant unto his master, lest he curse thee/you, when thou/you hast offended. )

Cvdl Accuse not a seruaunt vnto his master, lest he speake euell of the also, and thou be hurte.
(Accuse not a servant unto his master, lest he speak evil of the also, and thou/you be hurt.)

Wycl Accuse thou not a seruaunt to his lord, lest perauenture he curse thee, and thou falle doun.
(Accuse thou/you not a servant to his lord, lest peradventure/perhaps he curse thee/you, and thou/you fall down.)

Luth Verrate den Knecht nicht gegen seinen HErr’s; er möchte dir fluchen und du die Schuld tragen müssest.
(Verrate the servant/farmhand not to/against his LORD’s; he want you/to_you(sg) curse(v) and you(sg) the fault/blame(n) bear/carry must.)

ClVg Ne accuses servum ad dominum suum, ne forte maledicat tibi, et corruas.]
(Don't accuses a_servant to master his_own, not perhaps curseat to_you, and corruas.] )

SOTN 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

30:10

The first line is a warning against saying bad things about a servant to his master. The second line gives the bad consequences of not heeding the warning.

^10aDo not slander a servant to his master,

^10bor he will curse you, and you will bear the guilt.

In some languages, a person who warns a group of people addresses them with you^(sing/plur) or we/us^(dual/incl). The meaning lines in the Display will use you^(plur). Use a form in your language that is natural for this kind of proverb. Also see the notes on proverbs that state a general principle in 10:2.

30:10a

Do not slander a servant to his master,

¶ As for you my fellow people, you^(plur) must not falsely criticize a servant to his master/employer.
¶ If you say bad things about slaves to their owners/masters,
¶ Do not tell lies about a servant when you talk to his master,

Do not slander a servant to his master: In Hebrew, the word slander means: “say critical things that damage another person’s reputation.” These statements may be true or false.Longman (page 526) and Fox (page 864) are among those who point out that the criticism may or may not be true.

servant: The word servant probably refers to a household slave. Such slaves were usually owned by their masters and were under their authority (see Proverbs 29:19).

Some other ways to translate this line are:

Do not say bad things about servants to their masters (NCV)

Don’t tell a slave owner something bad about one of the slaves. (CEV)

In some languages, it may be appropriate to use more general terms. For example:

Never slander a worker to the employer (NLT)

30:10b

or he will curse you, and you will bear the guilt.

If you^(plur) do that, the servant will curse you, and you will endure/suffer the consequences.
those slaves will curse you, and you will have to take responsibility for what you did.
because the servant will become angry. He will tell you that God will punish you, and you will suffer as a result.

or: The word that the BSB translates as or is literally “lest.” It introduces the bad consequences of disobeying the warning in 30:10a. If he ignores the warning and slanders the servant, the servant will curse him.

he will curse you: The word curse refers here to words, not to sorcery. The pronoun he refers to the servant who was slandered. He curses the slanderer by insulting him in an angry way. He may threaten him or ask God to punish him.Waltke (page 483) defines “curse” as “reviling speech by a wronged, weaker party to elevate himself above his oppressor through threatening the evildoer’s life.” UBS (page 629 and Murphy (page 230) both speak of invoking God to punish the slanderer. Some other ways to translate this line are:

lest he curse you (ESV)

That slave will curse you (CEV)

If you^(plur) do that, the servant will become angry and insult/threaten you

and you will bear the guilt: This means that the slanderer will suffer the consequences for what he did. Some other ways to translate this clause are:

and you will suffer for it (NCV)

and you have to pay the penalty (NAB)

UTN uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / genericnoun

עֶ֭בֶד אֶל־אדנ⁠ו & יְקַלֶּלְ⁠ךָ֥

servant to/towards master(s)_of,his & he,should_curse_you

Here, a slave, his, and he refer to slaves in general, not a specific slave. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use more natural expressions. Alternate translation: “any slave to that slave’s master … that slave curse you”

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive

וְ⁠אָשָֽׁמְתָּ

and,you_will_be_held_guilty

If your language does not use this passive form, you could express the idea in active form or in another way that is natural in your language. Alternate translation: “and people consider you to be guilty”

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit