complete verse (Job 12:8)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 12:8:

  • Kupsabiny: “If you ask the animals that crawl on the ground they will show you.
    Also the fish inside the sea tell you.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “or talk with earth, and it will teach you,
    and the fish of the sea will tell you.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “[You(sing.) learn ["bala"/encouraging-particle] from whatever kind of animal — the (one-that) walks, the (one-that) flies, the (one-that) crawls, and the (one-that) swims.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “If you could ask the creatures that crawl on the ground, or the fish in the sea,
    they would tell you about God.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

sea / lake

The various Greek, Aramaic, Ge’ez, and Latin and Hebrew terms that are translated as “sea,” “ocean,” or “lake” in English are all translated in Chichewa with one term: nyanja. Malawi, where Chichewa is spoken, has a lot of lakes but does not share a border with the ocean. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

In Malagasy culture, the sea is perceived as sacred because it was a path taken by the ancestors. That is why the Malagasy word for the “sea” is ranomasina, which literally means “the sacred water.” The word masina actually has two different meanings: “salted” and “sacred/holy.” Salt is used for the conservation of some foods, such as meat or fish, that are to be set aside for later use. In this sense, the Malagasy phrase for “Holy Spirit” has the literal meaning of “Salted Spirit.” (Source: Brigitte Rabarijaona in The Bible Translator 2022, p. 103ff.)

Translation commentary on Job 12:8

Or the plants of the earth, and they will teach you: verse 8 is patterned on verse 7 and repeats the same idea. The word rendered plants occurs in 30.4, 7, but the same word is more commonly read as a verb that means “meditate, think about,” and in 7.11 it is translated “speak” by Revised Standard Version. Some modern translators adopt a change from plants of the earth to get “creatures that crawl.” This supports the usual order of beasts, birds, fishes, and creeping things, and Revised Standard Version is alone among modern versions to use plants. This leaves two choices, both of which are recommended to translators: “Speak to the earth” as in Bible en français courant, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, New International Version, and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, or “creatures of the earth” as in Good News Translation and others. Earth is used here in the sense of “the ground or land,” rather than the earth as a planet. In languages in which inanimate objects cannot be used with a verb like teach, it may be possible to say, for example, “and you will learn by watching them” or “you will become wise by watching what they do.” And they will teach you is repeated from verse 7a in the Hebrew. Good News Translation condenses the second part of both lines into one, “for their wisdom.”

And the fish of the sea will declare to you: as with the previous two lines, the verb ask is implied in Hebrew. Fish is plural in Hebrew. The order of beasts, birds, reptiles, and fish is nearly the opposite of that in Genesis 1.26. In languages in which the sea is unknown, it may be necessary to translate, for example, “and the fish in the rivers will tell you.”

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 .