complete verse (Job 20:4)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 20:4:

  • Kupsabiny: “You know, don’t you, that from old time
    from when God created humans to come to this world,” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “You know the things that have been going on in this way since the beginning of time,
    since the time that man was put upon the earth.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Very surely you (sing.) have-known that from the time-past, starting with the creation of man on the earth,” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “‘Do you not know that from long ago,
    ever since people were first put on the earth,” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Job 20:4-20:5

Do you not know this from of old…?: in the Hebrew the question is not negative: “Do you know this?” Good News Translation expresses the question as a statement: “Surely you know.” From of old refers to times past and extending into the present, and so Good News Translation “from ancient times.” This line may also be rendered, for example, “Have you not always known?” or “Have you not always been aware?”

Since man was placed upon earth: this expression refers, as in Deuteronomy 4.32, to the time of creation; that is, “ever since God created people and put them on the earth.” Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation use the passive but imply that God is the one who created; compare Bible en français courant “Since God placed man on the earth.” This line may also be rendered “ever since God created mankind” or “ever since people have been on the earth.”

Verse 5 completes the thought of verse 4. That the exulting of the wicked is short: exulting translates a word meaning “joy, happiness, gladness,” usually expressed with a sound or a shout. In other words, “The joy of the wicked does not last long.” Wicked here is plural in Hebrew, but Zophar will switch to the singular in the verses which follow. This may imply that he is applying this traditional teaching to Job in particular. The wicked (plural) come under attack by Bildad (8.11-19), Eliphaz (15.29-35), and Bildad again (18.5-21). The same teaching finds expression also in Psalm 37. Short translates “very near,” which means that the end of the time the wicked have left to rejoice is near; that is, their time will soon be finished. This line may also be expressed “that the wicked do not enjoy long life,” “that the joy of the wicked is only for a short while,” or “that the happiness of evil people lasts only for a moment.”

And the joy of the godless but for a moment: line b says essentially the same as line a with little poetic intensification, and so Good News Translation has reduced the two lines to one: “No wicked man has been happy for long.” For godless see 8.13. Line b may be translated as emphasizing line a; for example, “Yes, it is true that people who do not trust God are not happy for long” or “Yes, people who do not remember God (or, who forget God) are happy only for a moment.”

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 .