The P people speak idiomatically of their livers to describe emotion. Here’s what I mean:
To have a hot liver is to be very angry
To feel your liver is to be disgusted
To have a soft liver is be very emotional and cry easily
To have a hard liver is to not be emotional
To see someone with a hard liver is to see them with much patience
To have a scared liver is to shiver
To not have a liver means to be filled with joy
To have a sound liver means to be kind and generous.
To have a floppy liver is to not be bold, to not speak right up
To liverize someone is to deeply disappoint them
This marvelous language expresses emotion in so many cool ways using the liver idiomatically, as you saw above. And knowing these idioms has been a huge advantage for us in the translation of the Scriptures. So many times in a multitude of verses where certain emotions or virtues were being talked about, we used these meaningful idioms.
For example, when translation Philippians 4:4 where Paul says to rejoice and keep on rejoicing, it was so handy to literally write in their language:
“Because you are connected to the Lord-Owner-Boss, continue on being in the non-liver state” …
…..which beautifully communicates the concept of rejoicing in Christ continually!
