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).

forget

The Hebrew, Latin, and Greek that is translated as “forget” in English is translated in Noongar as dwangka-anbangbat, lit. “ear-lose.” (Source: Portions of the Holy Bible in the Nyunga language of Australia, 2018).

See also remember.

Translation commentary on Job 39:17

Because God has made her forget wisdom makes it appear that the poet has forgotten that God is supposed to be speaking. In order to retain the first person for God, Good News Translation shifts to “I.” Made her forget translates the causative form of the verb forget. The sense is “to deprive, to prevent from having,” and so “I have not allowed her to have wisdom” or “… her to be wise.” Bible en français courant says “It is because I have not granted wisdom to her.”

Given her no share in understanding translates the Hebrew literally. “She did not get her share of intelligence.” Gordis suggests that God is the subject in both lines, and translates “God forgot her when he allocated (distributed, gave out) wisdom, and he gave her no share in understanding.” This rendering is particularly good for its parallelism. Another possibility is “It was I who kept her from being wise, and it was I who withheld intelligence from her.”

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 .