But ask the beasts, and they will teach you: Job addresses someone (probably Zophar) in the singular. But translates a connective used to call attention to the subject now taken up, and so Good News Translation has “Even.” Beasts, as well as birds in the next line, are followed in Hebrew by singular verbs but are to be taken as collectives, and therefore are translated in English as plurals in Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation. The word beasts is used in 18.3 in association with “stupid.” The word emphasizes these creatures’ inferiority to human beings. The feminine singular form of the Hebrew word translated beasts can mean “animal” or even “cattle” and often refers to living creatures generally, excluding humans, and particularly the larger animals. The term refers generally to domestic animals, but it can also refer to wild animals. The plural feminine form, as used in this verse, refers to the hippopotamus in Job 40.15. However, in the present context it refers to animals in the general sense. In languages which must distinguish between domestic and wild animals, it will be best to use a term designating domestic animals. Good News Translation uses “animals,” since beasts has a very wide range of meanings in modern English. The implication is that Job’s friends should talk with the animals to learn about God, since their traditional knowledge has taught them nothing valuable. In translation it may be necessary to express ask the beasts as “ask the animals to tell you what they know about God,” or “ask the animals to tell you about God,” or “… to teach you about God.”

The birds of the air, and they will tell you: in Hebrew ask is not repeated in this line. In 35.11 the author of Job asks “Who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of the air?” In 11.7 Zophar asked “Can you find out the deep things of God?” and in 11.8 “it is higher than the heaven.” Job now replies to Zophar that he should inquire from the birds of the air, literally “of heaven.” Good News Translation has condensed these two lines into one. In translation it will be necessary to repeat the verb “ask” in the second line, unless of course the two lines are joined to say “Ask the animals and birds to teach you about God.” Birds of the air, if translated literally, may cause readers to ask if these are different from other kinds of birds. If a language makes a distinction based on birds that fly and birds such as chickens and other domestic fowl, the former should be used.

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 .