wisdom

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The Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that is translated as “wisdom” in English is rendered in Amganad Ifugao and Tabasco Chontal as “(big) mind,” in Bulu and Yamba as “heart-thinking,” in Tae’ as “cleverness of heart” (source for this and all above: Reiling / Swellengrebel), in Palauan as “bright spirit (innermost)” (source: Bratcher / Hatton), in Ixcatlán Mazatec as “with your best/biggest thinking” (source: Robert Bascom), in Noongar as dwangka-boola, lit. “ear much” (source: Portions of the Holy Bible in the Nyunga language of Australia, 2018 — see also remember), and in Dobel, it is translated with the idiom “their ear holes are long-lasting” (in Acts 6:3) (source: Jock Hughes).

See also wisdom (Proverbs).

Let days speak - and many years teach wisdom

The Hebrew that is translated as “Let days speak, and many years teach wisdom” or similar in English is translated in Chichewa (interconfessional translation) with the existing idiom Munene ulamusiya kulubilo, kumaanu tomwiindi or “You may leave an elder behind in speed, but not in common sense.” (Source: Wendland 1987, p. 106)

Translation commentary on Job 32:7

I said, ‘Let days speak…’: this represents what Elihu thought to himself, not what he spoke; therefore Good News Translation has “I told myself that you ought to speak”; or it can be expressed “I said to myself, ‘The old men should speak.’ ” Days is used figuratively to refer to the old friends, who have experienced many more days of life than Elihu, and so are more qualified to speak. Translators should retain a figurative expression if such is natural in the language.

And many years teach wisdom completes the parallelism and what Elihu thought to himself. Many years, like days, refers to the friends as being older than Elihu. The meaning of this line is therefore “it is for the elderly to teach wisdom” or “the old men are the ones who should teach wisdom to others.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, Wiliam. A Handbook on Job. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .