joy

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The Greek, Latin, Ge’ez, and Hebrew that is translated with “joy” or “gladness” in English is translated with various strategies:

  • Baoulé: “a song in the stomach” (see also peace (inner peace))
  • Bambara: “the spirit is made sweet”
  • Kpelle: “sweet heart”
  • Tzeltal: “the good taste of one’s heart”
  • Uduk: “good to the stomach”
  • Mískito: “the liver is wide open” (“happily letting the pleasures flooding in upon it”) (source for this and above: Nida 1952)
  • Mairasi: “good liver” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Noongar: koort-kwabba-djil or “heart very good” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “refreshed heart” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.).
  • Hausa Common Language Bible: farin ciki or “white stomach.” Other languages that use the same expression include Southern Birifor (pʋpɛl), Dera (popolok awo), Reshe (ɾipo ɾipuhã). (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)

See also Seat of the Mind for traditional views of “ways of knowing, thinking, and feeling,” happiness / joy, and exceeding joy.

complete verse (Job 20:5)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 20:5:

  • Kupsabiny: “that sinners do not live for long in happiness?
    And have you not heard that their lives do not extend for long?” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “The wicked win only for a few [lit.: some] days,
    the joy of people who do not honor God is only for a moment.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “the joy of the wicked men just passes-by. Yes, the joy of the ungodly people do- not -last-long.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “wicked people like you do not continue to rejoice for a long time,
    ungodly people are happy only for a moment/very short time ?” (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 .