complete verse (Job 13:12)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 13:12:

  • Kupsabiny: “Your proverbs are useless like rubbish
    and the words you use to defend yourselves are fragile like a clay pot.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Your answers are proverbs, as worthless as ashes;
    your defense is fragile like clay.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Your (plur.) proverbs/sayings have- no -value like (that of) ashes; your (plur.) reasons are weak/fragile like a clay-pot.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “The things that you say that you think are wise are as useless as as ashes;
    what you say to defend your opinions is no better than clay that quickly crumbles.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)

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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 formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Job 13:12

Your maxims are proverbs of ashes: maxims translates a Hebrew term whose basic sense is “remember.” Here it refers to what is remembered by old people—their sayings, proverbs, and traditional wisdom from past ages. Job considers his friends’ proverbs to be of ashes. Like any burned material, they have been used up and reduced to a useless leftover state with no further value. They are lifeless like the remains of a burned out fire. Good News Translation describes the proverbs as “useless as ashes.” This line may be rendered, for example, “Your proverbs are like the ashes left over from a fire” or “What you say are old proverbs, like the old ashes from a burned out fire.”

Your defenses are defenses of clay: defenses translates a Hebrew word referring to the rounded ornamental knob on a shield. By extension it may also refer to the shield itself and also to the function of a shield, that is, “defense.” Here your defenses refers to the words of Job’s friends, what they say to Job. And, as in the previous line, Job considers them to be as fragile as clay. A shield made of clay would break in pieces at the first blow. Good News Translation translates defenses as “arguments” which crumble like “clay.” The line may be rendered, for example, “The words you use to defend yourselves are as weak as clay” or “Your arguments are no better than a shield made of clay.”

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 .