complete verse (Job 22:15)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 22:15:

  • Kupsabiny: “Have you decided that you will follow the paths of the people of old
    those who used to love sins?” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Have you been going on the old way
    where wicked people walked?” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “‘Will- you (sing.) -continue to follow the way-of-living which for a long time now has-been-followed by the wicked people?” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Will you continue to conduct your life the old way
    that evil people have done for many years?” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Job 22:15

Eliphaz now challenges Job to say whether or not he intends to continue in the evil way of earlier generations. Will you keep to the old way…? may be rendered “Will you go on living like your ancestors?” Way translates the Hebrew for “road,” used figuratively here to mean “conduct, behavior, way of life.”

Which wicked men have trod: the verb trod, “walk,” derived from the root meaning “road,” is used to preserve the figure begun in the previous line. Good News Translation would be closer to the Hebrew if it translated “Are you determined to go on walking in the old paths, the paths on which evil men have walked?” This verse may also be expressed “Have you decided to act the way evil people act?” or “Have you made up your mind to live as evil people live?”

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 .