complete verse (Job 15:31)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 15:31:

  • Kupsabiny: “The should not trust in what is just a wind.
    When they rely on it, they get nothing.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “May he not be deceived by putting his trust in useless talk,
    for he will not get anything in return for that.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “He will- not -deceive himself by trusting on things that have- no -value, and he will- never -get anything from it.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Job 15:31

This verse is best understood as a bit of proverbial wisdom.

Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself: the Hebrew construction begins by expressing a negative imperative suitably translated by Revised Standard Version. Emptiness translates a word used in 7.3, “I am allotted months of emptiness.” Some suggest a change in the word to get “high rank” (New English Bible), “stature” (Dhorme). Other renderings are “lie, evil, deceit, worthlessness, vanity, fraud.” In order to settle on a translation of emptiness, it is necessary to look at the next line.

For emptiness will be his recompense: the word translated recompense refers to exchange of goods in buying and selling, or to the profit made. Good News Translation sums this thought up with “reward”: “Then evil will be his reward.” Bible en français courant is better with “He makes a mistake by counting on fraud, because he will be paid back in the same coin.” Biblia Dios Habla Hoy says “Let him not trust foolishly in deceit, because he will only be deceived.” Translations which change the word translated emptiness to get “height or stature” are able to continue the analogy of the tree in verse 30. For example, New Jerusalem Bible “Let him not trust in his great height, or delusion will be his.”

Because the Hebrew is subject to so much variation of interpretation, it is not possible to insist on any one rendering as being superior. However, the proposed change to “height” or “stature” has the advantage of relating this verse with both verses 30 and 32. This verse may be rendered, for example, “Let him not trust in being great or he will be deceived,” “He deceives himself if he relies on his high standing,” or “He is bound to fall if he thinks of himself as great.”

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 .