complete verse (Job 17:4)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 17:4:

  • Kupsabiny: “Since you have withheld understanding from those people,
    do not accept for them to defeat me.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “You have kept their minds from understanding,
    so you will not allow them to defeat me.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “You (sing.) have-covered/closed the thinking/minds of my friends so-that they could- not -understand. Therefore do- not -allow them be-successful in their accusing of me.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “You have prevented my friends from understanding what is true about me;
    do not allow them to triumph over me, saying that I have done things that are wrong.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

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

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

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, age-rare-ru (上げられる) or “raise” is used.

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

Honorary "are" construct denoting God ("separate")

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

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 are (され) 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, hanas-are-ru (離される) or “separate” is used.

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

Translation commentary on Job 17:4

Since thou hast closed their minds to understanding: in this line Job seems to say that God has hidden the truth from the friends. Their minds, in Hebrew “their hearts,” does not actually say that the minds are the minds of the friends. Nevertheless, in this context it is best to assume it. Bible en français courant has “You have removed all reason from my friends.” They are not qualified to serve as Job’s guarantor. Understanding has its seat in the “heart,” and in Isaiah 44.18 the Hebrew for “heart” is the organ of mental activity, usually rendered “mind” in English. This line may also be rendered, for example, “You have shut their minds so they cannot think,” “You have made my friends so they cannot understand,” or “You have deadened my friends’ minds and they cannot think.”

Therefore thou wilt not let them triumph: therefore expresses the consequence of the previous line and can be translated “that is why, for that reason, due to that.” Good News Translation expresses the line as a plea, but this seems unnecessary. In Hebrew the verb translated let … triumph has no object, and so one is supplied by most translators. Triumph here has the sense of “conquer, win, be successful.” The thought is the same as that of the psalmist who pleads that his enemies should not “triumph over him,” Psalm 13.3-5; 30.2; 38.19; 41.11. The line may be rendered, for example, “stop them from defeating me” or “keep them from conquering me.”

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 .