Hebrew proverbs — read closely

Parallel & Proverbs

A weekly literary miscellany

They That Sow in Tears

הַזֹּרְעִים בְּדִמְעָה בְּרִנָּה יִקְצֹרוּ

ha-zorʿim be-dimʿah, be-rinnah yiqtzoru

A Psalm verse that became a household weekly prayer — and the way Mandarin, Russian, Korean, and Persian each circle the same observation about hardship undertaken and harvest expected.

Patience 1,498 wds 7 min

№ 02 Israel

The Apple of the Eye

אִישׁוֹן עֵינוֹ

ishon eino

Why Hebrew said the beloved is the little man reflected in the eye — and how the same image, in Latin, English, and Arabic, became a doll, an apple, and the coolness of tears.

Love 1,190 wds 6 min

№ 01 Israel

The Wisdom of the Ant

לֵךְ־אֶל־נְמָלָה עָצֵל; רְאֵה דְרָכֶיהָ וַחֲכָם.

lekh el-n'malah atzel; re'eh drakheha va-hakham

Why Hebrew wisdom literature sent the lazy man to the ant — and how Aesop, La Fontaine, and Mandarin make the same recommendation with very different feelings about the ant herself.

Effort 1,180 wds 6 min

Hebrew proverbs, at a glance

Look at the small steady worker, and learn what wisdom looks like.

לֵךְ־אֶל־נְמָלָה עָצֵל; רְאֵה דְרָכֶיהָ וַחֲכָם.

Lekh el-n'malah atzel; re'eh drakheha va-hakham

Literally: Go to the ant, sluggard; observe her ways and be wise.

Hebrew · Israel

Set beside
- Greek (Aesop) — industry as winter survival, taught by narrative shame rather than command
- French (La Fontaine) — the same fable in seventeenth-century verse, with the ant subtly less admirable
- Mandarin — industry as collective force; the same small worker, multiplied
They that sow in tears shall reap in joy

הַזֹּרְעִים בְּדִמְעָה בְּרִנָּה יִקְצֹרוּ

Ha-zorʿim be-dimʿah, be-rinnah yiqtzoru

Literally: Those who sow in tears, in joy shall reap

Hebrew · Israel (biblical Judah)

Set beside
- Mandarin — the same sequence in the language of taste rather than agriculture
- Russian — patience and labor grind through everything; same claim, industrial register
- Korean — the structural twin: after X, Y; stripped to the bones
- Persian (Sa'di) — the paradox version; hardship already contains its inverse
The thing held so dear that the holder appears reflected in it.

אִישׁוֹן עֵינוֹ

Ishon eino

Literally: The little man of his eye.

Hebrew · Israel

Set beside
- Latin (Vulgate) — the little man becomes a little doll, in Jerome's translation
- English — the doll becomes an apple, by way of Old English glossators who needed a round word
- Arabic — the eye's coolness, a Bedouin metaphor that takes the same observation by a different sense