Sense: to be humble ⇔ be low
v. — to be humble, conceived of as being low.
It is better to be of a lowly [שׁפל] spirit among the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud.
Proverbs 16:19 (NRSV)
It is better to be humble [שׁפל] in spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud.
Proverbs 16:19 (NASB)
Proverbs 16:19 provides us with an interesting translation comparison. The NRSV, ESV, and NIV translate שׁפל as “be lowly,” but the NASB renders it as “be humble.” This particular usage of the word is a metaphorical extension of the more concrete meaning “be low.” In other words, “be low” is a metaphor for “be humble.” So, while the NASB renders the idea behind the metaphor, the other three translations maintain the metaphor, leaving it to the reader to understand the extension. This is interesting because the NASB tends to be more literal than versions like the NRSV and NIV. The Bible Sense Lexicon is able to avoid issues like this since it is not a translation. The BSL sense “to be humble ⇔ be low” gives some indication of both the extended meaning “be humble” and the more literal rendering that the word usually receives, “be low.”
What is the Bible Sense Lexicon?
Sense of the Day is based on content from Logos’ Bible Sense Lexicon, which organizes biblical Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek words by meaning based on a variety of semantic relationships. Sense of the Day provides examples of senses in context, along with insight into their application for theology and interpretation.
The Bible Sense Lexicon is a Logos dataset available in Logos 5 Gold and higher base packages. If you’re enrolled in the Logos Academic Discount Program, you can also find the Bible Sense Lexicon in the Biblical Languages base package. Take your studies even further by exploring semantic domains, engaging the biblical text like never before.
Learn more about the Bible Sense Lexicon.