The Hebrew in Job 1:11 that is translated as “curse you to your face” in English is translated in the Chichewa Buku Lopatulika translation (publ. 2018) with pamaso panu or “(curse you) in your eyes,” i.e. publicly. (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
complete verse (Job 1:11)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 1:11:
- Kupsabiny: “But please disturb all his wealth, (then) you will hear (him) curse you!’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
- Newari: “But if [you] stretch out [lit.: make long] your hand and snatch away all that he has, he will curse you to your face.’” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
- Hiligaynon: “But just take-away everything that is with him, and very surely he will-curse you (sing.).’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
- English: “But if you take away everything that he has, he will curse you openly. ’” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Japanese benefactives (uttemite)
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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between. One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a benefactive construction as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017.
Here, uttemite (打ってみて) or “try striking” is used in combination with kudasaru (くださる), a respectful form of the benefactive kureru (くれる). A benefactive reflects the good will of the giver or the gratitude of a recipient of the favor. To convey this connotation, English translation needs to employ a phrase such as “for me (my sake)” or “for you (your sake).” (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
addressing God
Translators of different languages have found different ways with what kind of formality God is addressed.
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Like many languages (but unlike Greek or Hebrew or modern English), Tuvan uses a formal vs. informal 2nd person pronoun (a familiar vs. a respectful “you”). Unlike other languages that have this feature, however, the translators of the Tuvan Bible have attempted to be very consistent in using the different forms of address in every case a 2nd person pronoun has to be used in the translation of the biblical text.
As Voinov shows in Pronominal Theology in Translating the Gospels (in: The Bible Translator 2002, p. 210ff. ), the choice to use either of the pronouns many times involved theological judgment. While the formal pronoun can signal personal distance or a social/power distance between the speaker and addressee, the informal pronoun can indicate familiarity or social/power equality between speaker and addressee.
In these verses, in which humans address God, the informal, familiar pronoun is used that communicates closeness.
Voinov notes that “in the Tuvan Bible, God is only addressed with the informal pronoun. No exceptions. An interesting thing about this is that I’ve heard new Tuvan believers praying with the formal form to God until they are corrected by other Christians who tell them that God is close to us so we should address him with the informal pronoun. As a result, the informal pronoun is the only one that is used in praying to God among the Tuvan church.”
In Gbaya, “a superior, whether father, uncle, or older brother, mother, aunt, or older sister, president, governor, or chief, is never addressed in the singular unless the speaker intends a deliberate insult. When addressing the superior face to face, the second person plural pronoun ɛ́nɛ́ or ‘you (pl.)’ is used, similar to the French usage of vous.
Accordingly, the translators of the current version of the Gbaya Bible chose to use the plural ɛ́nɛ́ to address God. There are a few exceptions. In Psalms 86:8, 97:9, and 138:1, God is addressed alongside other “gods,” and here the third person pronoun o is used to avoid confusion about who is being addressed. In several New Testament passages (Matthew 21:23, 26:68, 27:40, Mark 11:28, Luke 20:2, 23:37, as well as in Jesus’ interaction with Pilate and Jesus’ interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well) the less courteous form for Jesus is used to indicate ignorance of his position or mocking.” (Source Philip Noss)
In the most recent Manchu translation of 1835 (a revision of an earlier edition from 1822), God is never addressed with a pronoun but with “father” (ama /ᠠᠮᠠ) instead. Chengcheng Liu (in this post on the Cambridge Centre for Chinese Theology blog ) explains: “In Manchu tradition, as in Chinese etiquette, second-person pronouns could be considered disrespectful when speaking to superiors or spiritual beings. Manchu Shamanist prayers avoided si [‘you’] and sini [‘your’] for this very reason. To use them for God would be, in Lipovzoff’s [one of the two translators] words, ‘the most uncouth and indecent way to speak to the Almighty — as if He were a servant or slave.’ There was also a grammatical problem. In Manchu, si and sini could refer to both singular and plural subjects. For a faith that insisted on the singularity of God, this was potentially confusing. By contrast, repeating ama removed any ambiguity.”
In Dutch, Afrikaans, Gronings, and Western Frisian translations, God is always addressed with the formal pronoun.
See also formal pronoun: disciples addressing Jesus, female second person singular pronoun in Psalms.
Translation commentary on Job 1:11
But put forth thy hand now: Satan, who is a specialist in revealing the weakness of people’s claims to be devout, suggests to Yahweh how Yahweh can prove Job a pretender. Verse 11 begins with a conjunction which contrasts this verse with Satan’s previous remarks. Put forth thy hand is the first movement in touch all that he has. It contributes no information but only makes Satan’s suggestion more vivid. This part of the double metaphor is not translated by Good News Translation. Good News Translation renders the connective as “But now” and the suggestion as “suppose you take away everything he has.” The author employs the idiom touch, but the action is far more aggressive than the word “touch” suggests. There does not seem to be an attempt on the part of the author to use the word touch as understatement as suggested by k The Old Testament Translated by Ronald Knoxk* (Knox), who attempts to retain the Hebrew idiom by saying “One little touch of thy hand assailing all that wealth of his!” and New Jerusalem Bible “lay a finger on his possessions.” The meaning of touch is to be taken as in Good News Translation “take away everything he has.” If the translator prefers to retain both parts of the figure, it may be translated sometimes as “Reach out your hand and take away everything Job has” or “Reach out and destroy Job’s wealth.” Since the following statement is a consequence resulting from taking away Job’s possessions, it will be more natural in some languages to make the first statement a condition; for example, “If you reach out and take away everything Job has….”
And he will curse thee to thy face: and translates what is literally “if not.” In oaths “if” may be made negative, and the result becomes emphatically positive with the meaning of “certainly, without any doubt.” Good News Translation renders this certainty by creating a break in structure between the tentative dependent clause and the positive claim in the main clause, “suppose you take away everything he has—he will curse you….” Bible en français courant and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch make the certainty clear through “and I wager you”; “wager” means to place a bet. Curse is again “bless” as in verse 5. In translation it is necessary to distinguish between a curse which means calling on a supernatural power to inflict injury on someone, and the act of saying evil words against someone. Here the latter sense is meant. In this sense curse may be rendered in some languages as “speak evil words against you” or “say that you are worthless.” Verse 11 may sometimes be rendered “If you reach out and take away all his wealth, he will speak evil words against you.” In some languages it will be more natural for the condition clause to follow the result clause.
To thy face refers to the fact that Job will curse Yahweh openly, not behind Yahweh’s back; so Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch. Variations of the same expression are found in 6.28; 21.31. In some languages this is rendered, for example, “on your head,” “in your eyes,” or “as if you were nothing.”
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 .
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