complete verse (Job 14:21)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 14:21:

  • Kupsabiny: “Even if his children are honored, he will not know it.
    And we will not be told even if the children are mocked.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “His sons may have honor and prestige but he will not know.
    They may be disgraced but he will not know.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “He does not know if his children are-being-honored or are-being-put-down/being-belittled.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “When we die we do not know if our sons will grow up and do things that will cause them to be honored.
    And if they become disgraced, we do not see that, either.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Job 14:21

This verse emphasizes that those in the world of the dead know absolutely nothing regarding even those matters which most closely concern them, such as the welfare of their families.

His sons come to honor, and he does not know it: come to honor in this line is positive, and brought low in line b is the opposite. Come to honor translates a verb meaning “to be honored, given recognition.” The dead man’s sons rise to positions of importance which in life would make the father proud. But the dead father knows nothing of it. It is the same if they are brought low. The same contrast is brought out in Jeremiah 30.19, “I will make them honored and they shall not be small” (Revised Standard Version). This line may also be expressed, for example, “People honor his sons, and he does not even know it” or “People speak well of his sons, but he never knows it.”

Brought low translates a verb meaning “being small, weak, insignificant.” By contrast the honored one is “a person of weight, a notable.” And he perceives it not: Good News Translation translates “Nor is he told when they are disgraced” and thus constructs a well balanced set of lines. This is a good translation model. Other models are: “People shame them and neither does he know this” or “Even when his sons are disgraced he knows nothing of it.”

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 .