remember

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “remember” in English is translated in Mairasi as “it is (or: place it) in your liver’s crack” (source: Enggavoter 2004) and in Noongar as barrang-dwangka, literally “ear-hold” (source: Portions of the Holy Bible in the Nyunga language of Australia, 2018).

In Kalmyk, there is no equivalent to “remember,” so the translation there is “don’t forget.” (Source: David Clark in The Bible Translator 2015, p. 117ff. )

See also forget, wisdom, God remembered Noah and Seat of the Mind / Seat of Emotions.

forget

The Hebrew, Latin, Ge’ez, and Greek that is translated as “forget” in English is translated in Noongar as dwangka-anbangbat, lit. “ear-lose.” (Source: Portions of the Holy Bible in the Nyunga language of Australia, 2018).

See also remember and forget (Japanese honorifics).

complete verse (Job 11:16)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 11:16:

  • Kupsabiny: “All your troubles shall vanish and you forget (them),
    like rain that falls and then stops.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Then you will forget your suffering.
    You will remember it as the water of a flood that has subsided.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Then you (sing.) will- now -forget of your (sing.) pains, as-if like water that has-passed-away.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “You will forget all your troubles;
    they will be like the water of a flood that has all disappeared.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Job 11:16

You will forget your misery: misery translates a word used in 3.10 and 4.8, where it was rendered “trouble” by Revised Standard Version. It refers to the pain and suffering Job has gone through. You will remember it as waters that have passed away: in 6.15 river beds were used as an image for treachery. Here a similar image is used to speak of forgetting. The comparison to waters that have passed away means the memory of something so indistinct it is forgotten, or remembered in the faintest way possible. The idea is expressed in English as “water under the bridge.” Verse 16 may be rendered in some languages, for example, “You will forget your sufferings just like water that has flowed away in the river” or “You will forget your troubles like a person forgets the water that flowed down the river.” Translators may have other traditional sayings that express this notion.

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 .