complete verse (Job 13:25)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 13:25:

  • Kupsabiny: “Why scare a person whom the wind brings? (a leaf blown by the wind)
    Can you waste your power/strength on something like grass?” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Do you even pursue the leaves of trees blown by the wind?
    Do you go in pursuit of chaff/dry wheat awns?” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Why do- you (sing.) -frighten and pursue me? I am just like a straw or a leaf being-blown by the wind?” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Those things happen to them because they shook their fists/dared to fight against Almighty God,
    and thought that they were strong enough to defeat him.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Honorary "rare" construct denoting God ("chase")

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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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme rare (られ) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, oikake-rare-ru (追いかけられる) or “chase” is used.

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

Translation commentary on Job 13:25

Wilt thou frighten a driven leaf: Job looks on himself as a flimsy object blown about by God. He compares himself to a driven leaf in a and dry chaff in b. The picture is that of a dry leaf that is blown from its tree and whirled away by the wind. The poetic expression suggests that the wind-blown leaf feels frightened. Good News Translation has created a model for languages in which inanimate objects do not have such sensations. Line a is made a question, which is followed by a statement in line b, so that it is Job who is “frightened” and then compared to the leaf. “Are you trying to frighten me? I am nothing but a leaf.”

And pursue dry chaff: pursue translates a verb meaning “chase, hunt down, go after.” When used with a human object it can mean “persecute.” Dry chaff refers to the bits of straw separated from the grain in winnowing. Job is asserting that it is unworthy of someone with God’s power to use it to chase a flimsy bit of straw, such as Job is. Bible en français courant translates verse 25 “Whom are you pursuing?—A flying leaf! Whom do you ceaselessly chase?—A bit of dry straw!” This verse may also be rendered, for example, “Why do you frighten me and make me like a dry leaf blown from a tree, and chase me like straw blown by the wind?”

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 .