darkness

In Gbaya, the notion of deep darkness is emphasized in the referenced verses with kpɔ̧ɔ̧-kpɔ̧ɔ̧, an ideophone that refers to something very black, dark black like the darkness of night the movement or motion of shaking.

Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)

See also darkness and darkness.

complete verse (Job 10:22)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 10:22:

  • Kupsabiny: “Things are chaotic there,
    because darkness covers (it)!’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Before I go to a land full of chaos and deep darkness,
    [where] even the light seems like darkness, like a black shadow."” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “(It is) very dark there; just all night-time and never (any) light, and there is no order there.’ ’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “a place of darkness and dark shadows, where everything is confused/disordered,
    where even a small amount of light there is like darkness (OR, there is no light, only darkness).’” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Job 10:21 - 10:22

Before I go whence I shall not return: verses 21-22 are subordinate clauses dependent upon verse 20b in Revised Standard Version. Job realizes that it is useless to regret that he was born, and the best he can hope for is that God will cease to take any notice of him. As in Psalm 39.13, the reference to Job’s not returning is to Sheol, the world of the dead.

To the land of gloom and deep darkness: a description of Sheol. Gloom translates the same word used in 3.5, where Job asked that “gloom and deep darkness claim” the day he was born. The term for deep darkness is sometimes rendered by “shade” or “shadow of death.” Translators may find it better to rearrange the lines of verse 21 as follows: “before I go to the land of gloom and darkness and will not return,” “before I go to the place that is full of shadows and darkness and will not come back again.”

The land of gloom and chaos: this extends the description of Sheol. In verses 21-22 there are four terms used in Hebrew to speak of the darkness of Sheol, and two of these are repeated, so that these two verses are overloaded with six references to the gloominess of Sheol. Revised Standard Version, as the note indicates, reduces to gloom and chaos what is literally “as darkness, deep darkness.” Good News Translation uses “darkness, shadows.” Chaos translates what is literally “without order” and conveys the idea of disorder or confusion.

Where light is as darkness: light and darkness are contrasting terms, and where there is no light, all is darkness. In the poetry of Job, it is so dark in Sheol that it is as though the shining of Sheol’s light were darkness, or as Good News Translation says, “the light itself is darkness.” In some languages verse 22 will serve in apposition to verse 21 only by repeating the subject; for example, “That place is a land of darkness, shadows, and disorder,” or “There in that place it is dark, and there are shadows and confusion.” In some languages abstracts such as “disorder and confusion” must be expressed as descriptive statements; for example, “where everything is scattered about” or “where no two things are kept side by side.” Where light is as darkness must be restructured in some languages; for example, “where even the light would be like darkness,” “where the light that shines is not light but darkness,” or “where there is no light and all is darkness.”

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 .