Language Studies

Aramaic Thoughts

Selections from Proverbs 27 - Part 5

Verse 7 in the Peshitta reads: The satisfied soul tramples on the honeycomb, but to the famishing, even bitter things are sweet. The Hebrew original reads: The satisfied soul tramples the honeycomb, but for the hungry soul, every bitter thing is sweet. The Septuagint reads: A satisfied soul scorns honeycombs, but to a hungry soul, even bitter things appear sweet. Note that the Hebrew and the Syriac are almost identical. In fact, the two use a number of cognate words in the verse. The Septuagint is not quite the same. The same point is made, of course, in all three versions. But notice the subtle differences between the two Semitic versions and the Greek version. Notice that the Hebrew and the Syriac both use a strong, concrete verb in the first half of the verse—trample. The Septuagint, on the other hand, uses a weaker, less concrete verb—scorn. In the second half of the verse, the Hebrew and Syriac are more direct than the Septuagint. The Septuagint says, "even bitter things appear sweet."

A note of explanation is necessary at this point. In Greek, as in English, verbs must necessarily be expressed. However, in Semitic languages such as Hebrew and Aramaic, it is not always necessary to express the verb "to be." The verb, in those cases, is simply understood. The difficulty for a translator may be in deciding which form of the verb in English is best suited to substitute for the on-use of the verb in Hebrew or Aramaic. In those cases where the verb is omitted, there is an implied equation between the subject and the object. With Proverbs 27:7 both the Hebrew and the Syriac have these non-verbal clauses in the second half of the verse. Literally, the Hebrew (and Syriac, for that matter) reads: "and a hungry soul, every bitter thing sweet." In turning this into English, the force of it could be expressed "for a hungry soul, every bitter thing is sweetness itself."

Contrast this with the Septuagint’s rendering: "to a hungry soul, even bitter things appear sweet." The expression has been weakened by the use of the verb "appear." For the author of the Hebrew text, and for the translator of the Peshitta, there is no "appears" to it. When a man is hungry (and the word "hunger" here is related to the word "famine"), really starving, bitter things do not merely appear sweet, they are sweet.

This more concrete sort of statement is characteristic of Hebrew and Syriac. In many places (though not always) the Septuagint has a tendency to soften the concreteness of the Biblical text, as it does here. Unfortunately the problem is not limited to the Greek translation. Most modern English versions also soften the concreteness of this verse. The NIV, for example reads "He who is full loathes honey, but to the hungry even what is bitter tastes sweet." It omits the concreteness of "trampling" in the first half of the verse, and in the second half imports the verb "taste" which has no counterpart even in the Septuagint.

Next week, we will begin looking at various aspects of the New Testament in Aramaic.

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