gaped with their mouths

In Gbaya, the notion gaping mouths is emphasized in Job 16:10 with kpooŋ, an ideophone that refers to being wide open like an open mouth.

Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)

cheek

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “cheek” in English is translated in Eastern Huasteca Nahuatl as “face” since there is no specific word in that language for “cheek.”

complete verse (Job 16:10)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 16:10:

  • Kupsabiny: “People gather around me and insult me,
    striking me repeatedly on the cheek.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “People have scoffed at me,
    they have slapped my cheeks with passion,
    and have united against me from all sides.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “‘Men mocked and laughed-at me. They slapped me at the cheek to despise me. They were-united to attack me.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “People gape/stare at me with their mouths open to sneer at me;
    they have struck me on the face/cheek to ridicule me,
    and they crowd around me to threaten me.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Job 16:10

Men have gaped at me with their mouth: men translates an indefinite “they,” which Good News Translation renders “people.” Gaped at me means they “stared at me with open mouths.” It implies that the person whose mouth is open is in a state of wonder, dumbfounded by what he sees. This is not likely to be the sense here. Good News Translation “sneer” is better. New International Version has “Men open their mouths to jeer at me”; but it is hard to understand how a person can jeer without opening the mouth. It may be necessary in some languages to continue the animal simile in this line; for example, “Like wild animals they threaten me with their mouths.” The next line continues the description of physical violence done to Job by his enemies.

They have struck me insolently upon the cheek: to slap a person’s face is an extreme insult; for example, Psalm 3.7 “Arise, O LORD! Deliver me, O my God! For thou dost smite all my enemies on the cheek.” See also Micah 5.1 (4.14 in Hebrew); Lamentations 3.30. Insolently means the act is done “to ridicule, scorn, mock.” The Hebrew word translated cheek refers to the jaw and the cheeks. The line may be rendered, for example, “to ridicule me they have slapped my face” or “to make fun of me they have slapped me.”

They mass themselves together against me: the form of the verb used here means “to pile up, press together” and applied to people is, as in Good News Translation, “They crowd around me….” The final line of verse 10 may be translated, for example, “they gang up to attack me” or “they crowd around me as they attack me.” Good News Translation has reduced lines b and c to one. The only verb in line c is mass … against, and the implication is that they do this to threaten, ridicule or attack.

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 .