complete verse (Job 17:5)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 17:5:

  • Kupsabiny: “A person who has decided to betray friends,
    calamity shall come to his children.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “A person who defames his friends for a reward,
    the eyes of his sons will become dim.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “They are like a man who betrays his friends in-order to gain-money, which is the reason of the suffering of their children.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “‘What will happen is that the lives of wicked people like you end
    as quickly as we can put out a light or extinguish the flame of a fire.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Job 17:5

In verse 4 Job said that God would not allow his friends to triumph over him, and here he asserts that their betrayal of him will have its effect on their offspring. Good News Translation has introduced verse 5 with “In the old proverb,” which gives verse 5 a more logical connection with the previous verse. Bible en français courant and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch also refer to a proverb.

He who informs against his friends to get a share of their property is in the form and style of a proverb, which is Good News Translation‘s reason for introducing the verse with “In the old proverb.” Interpreters have found this verse confusing and open to many variations of meaning. The first part is literally “for a share he tells his friends,” and the remainder says “and the eyes of his children fail.” Jewish commentators understood the phrase translated share of their property (a single word in Hebrew) to mean “flattery,” and so King James Version has “He that speaketh flattery to his friends.” Informs translates a word that usually means “tell,” but here it is best taken as in Revised Standard Version or as “denounce, betray.” Good News Translation has “betrays his friends for money,” which is equivalent to Revised Standard Version.

The eyes of his children will fail: the thought in this line is that the children of the traitor in the previous line will suffer for the evil act of their parent. The wording here is similar to 11.20: “But the eyes of the wicked will fail.” Revised Standard Version, which rearranged the Hebrew form of line a to obtain a good rendering, reverts to a literal translation here in line b. Good News Translation “and his children suffer for it” is a suitable translation model.

The Good News Translation footnote offers another rendering of verse 5. Bible en français courant follows this interpretation: “They are like the man of whom the proverb speaks: inviting his friends to share his bread, he leaves his children to wait in vain for their part.” Moffatt is similar: “Like one who bids friends to a feast, and lets his children starve.” We may also translate, for example, “As the saying goes, share your food with your friends and let your children starve.” However, translators will do well to follow Revised Standard Version or Good News Translation in line a, and Good News Translation in line b.

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 .