PROV 30:25 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=none Clarity of original=clear Importance to us=normal (All still tentative.)

Key: khaki:verbs, red:negative.
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 The ants are a people not strong,
⇔ but they prepare their food in the summer.

UST Although ants are not strong,
⇔ they store up their food during the summer so that they have it to eat during the winter.

OEB No OEB PROV book available

WEBBE The ants are not a strong people,
⇔ yet they provide their food in the summer.

WMBB (Same as above)

NET ants are creatures with little strength,
⇔ but they prepare their food in the summer;

LSV The ants [are] a people not strong,
And they prepare their food in summer,

FBV Ants—they're not strong, but they work hard all summer storing up food.

T4T Ants are not strong,
⇔ but they store up food during the summer in order to have it during the winter.

LEB • The ants are a people who are not strong, yet they prepare their food in the summer;

BBE The ants are a people not strong, but they put by a store of food in the summer;

Moff ants are a frail folk,
⇔ but they store up food in summer;

JPS The ants are a people not strong, yet they provide their food in the summer;

ASV The ants are a people not strong,
⇔ Yet they provide their food in the summer;

DRA The ants, a feeble people, which provide themselves food in the harvest:

YLT The ants [are] a people not strong, And they prepare in summer their food,

Drby The ants, a people not strong, yet they provide their food in the summer;

RV The ants are a people not strong, yet they provide their meat in the summer;

SLT The ants a people not strong, and they will prepare their bread in the summer;

Wbstr The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their food in the summer;

KJB-1769 The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer;

KJB-1611 The Ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meate in the summer.
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above, apart from capitalisation and punctuation)

Bshps The emmets are but a weake people, which yet gather their meate in the sommer:
(The emmets are but a weak people, which yet gather their meat in the summer:)

Gnva The pismires a people not strong, yet prepare they their meate in sommer:
(The pismires a people not strong, yet prepare they their meat in summer: )

Cvdl The Emmettes are but a weake people, yet gather they their meate together in ye haruest.
(The Emmettes are but a weak people, yet gather they their meat together in ye/you_all harvest.)

Wycl amtis, a feble puple, that maken redi mete in heruest to hem silf;
(amtis, a feeble people, that making ready meet in harvest to himself;)

Luth die Ameisen, ein schwach Volk, dennoch schaffen sie im Sommer ihre Speise;
(the Ameisen, a weak people, nonetheless create/make they/she/them in_the summer their/her food;)

ClVg formicæ, populus infirmus, qui præparat in messe cibum sibi;[fn]
(formicæ, the_people weak/sick, who/which beforeparat in/into/on harvest food to_himself; )

30.25 Formicæ populus infirmus. Et Ecclesiæ populus, etc., usque ad quibus vivat in æternum.

30.25 Formicæ the_people weak/sick. And Assemblies/Churches the_people, etc., until to to_whom he_lives in/into/on eternal.

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

Paragraph 30:24–28 Four things that are small but very wise

This paragraph is a list of four items, but it is not introduced with the parallel numbers three and four like the numerical proverb in 30:21–23. The first verse introduces two contrasting characteristics which are true of each item in the list. The first line of each verse describes an apparent weakness or disadvantage of a particular animal. The second line describes the unexpected way that the animal makes up for the disadvantage.

30:25

The parts in bold print contrast the weakness of ants with their cleverness in storing food during times when it is plentiful. Proverbs 6:6–8 has a similar description of the way ants gather food. See how you translated those verses.

^25a The ants are creatures of little strength,

^25byet they store up their food in the summer.

30:25a

The ants are creatures of little strength,

Ants are not very strong,
The first of them is ants. They are creatures/animals that lack strength,

The ants are creatures of little strength: In comparison to other creatures, ants do not have great strength. Some other ways to translate this line are:

Ants, who seem to be feeble (CEV)

Ants are not very strong (NCV)

The ants: The ants that are referred to here are probably harvester ants. If your language has a word for a specific kind of ant that stores food during certain seasons of the year, you may use it here. You may also use a general word, as English versions have done.

creatures: In Hebrew, this word is literally “people,” as in the ESV. The same word is also used in 30:26a. It refers here to ants as a group of similar animals or creatures. In some languages, it will not be necessary to identify ants as creatures, especially if this word was already used in 30:24a. Here is another way to translate this word:

species (GW)

30:25b

yet they store up their food in the summer;

but they know how to store food during the time when there is plenty.
but they gather food in their nests to prepare for the winter when they cannot find food.

yet they store up their food in the summer: Ants make up for their small size and strength by the way they prepare adequate food supplies. The Hebrew word that the BSB translates here as store up means “prepares” or “gets ready.” Ants prepare food supplies by gathering them and storing them in their nests.

in the summer: 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.

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

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. Focus instead on the significance of that season in the context. For example:
when food is available

Some other ways to translate this line are:

but they store up food all summer (NLT)

but they know how to gather/store food in their nests during the dry season

but they gather food at harvest time so they will have plenty when no food is left to find

Parallel PROV 30:25

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

Paragraph 30:24–28 Four things that are small but very wise

30:25

30:25a

30:25b