complete verse (Job 19:2)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 19:2:

  • Kupsabiny: “For how long will you continue to cause me pain,
    and spear me with your mouth until when? ” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “How long will you torment me,
    and how long will you pulverize me with words.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “‘Until when will- you (plur.) -have- me -suffer and torture/hurt with what you (plur.) are-saying?” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “‘How long will you three torment me
    and crush my spirit by saying to me that I am wicked?” (Source: Translation for Translators)

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)

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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 choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).

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

Translation commentary on Job 19:2

How long will you torment me…?: How long is the question with which Bildad began both his speeches in 8.2 and 18.2. Since the verbs are in the plural, it is clear that Job is throwing Bildad’s questions back at him and the friends. Torment me translates “torment my soul (nefesh),” which Dhorme renders “distress my soul.” Job is not attempting to separate his soul from his person, and it is better to translate me as in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation.

And break me in pieces with words?: the verb translated break … in pieces is used in 4.19; 6.9 and translated “crushed” by Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. Here Job is emotionally crushed by the words of his friends. Their crushing words do not lead him to have sorrow for his sin; on the contrary, they only increase his pain. God is responsible for Job’s physical torments. The torment he speaks of is mental. Verse 2 may also be expressed, for example, “How long will you make me suffer anguish and crush me with your long speeches?” or “Will you never stop making me pained in my heart and wounding me with your sharp words?”

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 .