orphan

The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated as “orphan” in English is translated in Enlhet as “those who are gone past” (source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 24ff. ) and in Newari as “ones not having mother-father” (source: Newari Back Translation).

E.L. Greenstein (2019, p. 108) notes that, particularly in reference to Job 24:9 where the child is being nursed, that the Hebrew term “has the narrower meaning of “fatherless.”

See also orphaned.

empty-handed

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “empty-handed” or similar in English is translated in Elhomwe idiomatically with “with hands only.” (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

See also send away empty-handed.

widow

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “widow” in English is translated in West Kewa as ona wasa or “woman shadow” (source: Karl J. Franklin in Notes on Translation 70/1978, pp. 13ff.) and in Newari as “husband already died ones” or “ones who have no husband” (source: Newari Back Translation).

The etymological meaning of the Hebrew almanah (אַלְמָנָה) is likely “pain, ache,” the Greek chéra (χήρα) is likely “to leave behind,” “abandon,” and the English widow (as well as related terms in languages such as Dutch, German, Sanskrit, Welsh, or Persian) is “to separate,” “divide” (source: Wiktionary).

See also widows.

complete verse (Job 22:9)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 22:9:

  • Kupsabiny: “You have turned the back to widows for them to go with empty hands
    and you have not rescued poor/orphaned children.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “You have sent widows away empty-handed.
    You have broken the arms of the fatherless.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “When the widows ask for help from you (sing.), you (sing.) send- them -home without carrying-anything. As-well-as the orphans/parentless you (sing.) do- not -treat well.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “When widows came to you for help, you must have sent them away without giving them anything,
    and you must have oppressed orphans.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Job 22:9

The oppression of widows and orphans is condemned in the Old Testament (Exo 22.22; Deut 27.19; Jer 7.6; 22.3; Zech 7.10). Eliphaz returns to the use of the second person singular in the first line of this verse. The verb in the second line is in the passive, but many translators translate that line also with “you (singular),” referring to Job as the subject.

You have sent widows away empty: sent means “you dismiss, make them go away.” The widows that come to the strong are asking for help but are sent away empty, which means “empty-handed, without receiving anything, without getting help.” In some languages it will be necessary to express the line differently to make the context clear; for example, “When widows ask you for help, you give them nothing” or “If a widow comes to you for help, you send her away with empty hands.”

And the arms of the fatherless were crushed: Good News Translation translates this verse so that the poetic intensification in terms of increased violence is brought out: “You not only refused … but you also robbed….” The heightening of poetic intensity in line b can also be expressed in English as “you even…” or “you even went so far as to….” Fatherless refers to the orphaned children; arms … crushed means “destroyed, oppressed”: “You have even oppressed children who have no fathers (to defend them).”

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 .