complete verse (Job 27:12)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 27:12:

  • Kupsabiny: “You probably know that!
    But why then are you speaking stupid words?” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “You have seen all this,
    Why have you said such meaningless talk?” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “But all of you (plur.) have-seen this. So, why do you (plur.) speak to me worthless (things)?” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “But you three have seen for yourselves what God has done;
    so why are you saying such nonsense?/you should not be saying such nonsense.” (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 27:12

Behold, all of you have seen it yourselves: here Behold is better translated “If” or else left untranslated: “If you all have observed this.” Good News Translation translates “But no, after all….” All of you … yourselves translates a pair of pronouns “you (plural), all of you.” In 13.4 these are used in parallel, and here they are put side by side, but the meaning is as in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. In Hebrew seen has no object but appears to refer to verse 11b, which speaks about what is in God’s mind.

Why then have you become altogether vain?: this is best handled as a question, as in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. The Hebrew construction translated become altogether vain is the noun “vain thing” followed by a verb of the same root, and so “become vain with a vain thing.” It may represent an intensification of the worthlessness Job attributes to the friends. Good News Translation renders the line well: “So why do you talk such nonsense?” Verse 12 may also be expressed, for example, “All of you have seen these things, so why do you talk in such a foolish way?” or “You have all seen these things for yourselves; why then do you talk such nonsense?”

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 .