Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 27:21:
Kupsabiny: “A storm from the East sweeps (him) away and (he) is lost (it) chases (him) from his home.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “The east wind will blow him away and not even His name will remain. The wind will blow him far away from his house.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “A wind from the east will-blow him, and he will-vanish from his place-of-dwelling.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “It is as though the wind from the east picks them up and carries them away from their homes, and they disappear.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
According to Anne Garber Kompaoré (in Le Sycomore 3/2009, p. 34ff. ), there are 4 ways to identify cardinal directions:
1. celestial bodies, especially the sun and certain stars
2. geographical landmarks, for example a mountain, sea, or river (depending on its position or the direction in which the water flows) etc.
3. climatic phenomena, such as the wind and the direction from which rain comes
4. bodily reference points, especially front, back, left, and right, in relation to celestial bodies or geographical landmarks
Following are examples of how these are practically implemented by various languages: (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight)
Celestial Bodies
East and west are often translated by the rising and the setting of the sun (note that the origin of English and other Indo-European languages is “dawn” for “east” and “evening” [i.e. sun-down] for “west”):
Maan: “where the sun comes up” and “where the sun goes down” (source: Don Slager)
Kankanaey: “from the coming-out of the sun “and “going-away of the sun” (source: Kankanaey back-translation)
Northern Emberá: “from where the sun comes up” and “from where the sun falls” (source: Charles Mortensen)
Ejamat “the side where the sun comes from” and “the side where it sets” (source: David Frank in this blog post )
Tzeltal: “where the sun pours-out” (west) (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
Northern Ngbandi: “the sun behind the chief’s house” (east — the chief lives traditionally at the eastern side of the village, therefore he does not get the sunlight into his eyes) and “under the sun” (west)
Northwestern Dinka: “earth behind” (east — the place behind the earth, i.e. the area where the sun rises)
Jula: “salt village” (north — because salt comes from the north, from the Sahara Desert) and “kola village” (south — since kola comes from the coastal region to the south) (source: Garber Kompaoré)
Matumbi: “toward the beach” (East) (the coast is in the eastern direction in Matumbi-speaking areas), “north” and “south” can be defined as above or below another place (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
Acoli: “right” (of the local White Nile) (north) and “left” (of the White Nile) (south)
Zande: “interior (dry) land” (east); “place-inside-country” (north / south) — Zande, like a number of other languages, including Matengo and Hehe, traditionally only has three cardinal directions.
Belanda Bor: “lower place” (north) and “higher place” (south)
Turkana: “(up)stream” (north) and (down)stream (south)
Mono (DRC): “water place” (south) (source for this and five above: Mietzner / Pasch)
Climatic Phenomena
Shilluk: “opening westwind” (north) and “opening eastwind” (south)
Swahili used to have six directions. In reducing them to four, kusini and kaskazini which used to refer to south-west and north east respectively (the directions from where the two monsoons blow) have become the terms for “south” and north.” (source for this and one above: Mietzner / Pasch)
Bodily Reference Points
Nuer / Burun: “face” and “sun face” respectively (both: east)
Kalenjin: “eye sun” (east) (this and the one above indicate that the sun is “facing” the spectator from its position in the east:
Shilluk: doesn’t use a fixed position of the speaker, instead it has “eye sun morning” for east and “eye sun evening” for west
Mono (DRC): “foot-sun” (east — the start of the sun’s journey)
Burun: “sun leg” (west — the end of the sun’s journey)
Bari: “back” (north — when people are facing south, north is at their back) (source for this and above: Mietzner / Pasch)
Northern Emberá “the looking [left] hand” (north) and “the real [right] hand” (south) (source: Charles Mortensen)
Morelos Nahuatl: “from above” (north) and “from below” (south) (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
When all four directions are mentioned, translators tend to avoid listing the four, sometimes verbose terms, and chose solutions like “all directions” (such as in Maan or Manya (source: Don Slager). Yakan has “from the four corners of the earth” (source: Yakan back-translation) and Western Bukidnon Manobo “from the four directions here on the earth” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo back-translation).
The Hebrew text that gives instructions where to place items in the tabernacle with the help of cardinal directions (north and south) had to be approached in the Bambam translation specific to spacial concepts of that culture. Phil Campbell explains: “There are no words in Bambam for north and south. In Exodus 26:35, God instructs that the table is to be placed on the north side and the lamp on the south side inside the tabernacle. The team wants to use right and left to tell where the lamp and table are located. In many languages we would say that the table is on the right and the lampstand is on the left based on the view of someone entering the tabernacle. However, that is not how Bambam people view it. They view the placement of things and rooms in a building according to the orientation of someone standing inside the building facing the front of the building. So that means the table is on the left side and the lampstand is on the right side.”
These three verses will be handled together, since each describes the effect of the wind.
The east wind lifts him up and he is gone: The east wind blows from the desert towards the Mediterranean Sea, bringing scorching heat. Here it is violent, like a tornado or whirlwind, in that it picks the man up and carries him away. In 15.2 Eliphaz asked if a wise man should fill himself with the east wind, using the same Hebrew term. See there for comments. Lifts him up implies for the purpose of taking him away, and so “picks him up and carries him off.” Good News Translation reduces the two lines to one.
It sweeps him out of his place: sweeps describes the action of the violent wind and is used in Psalm 58.9b. Out of his place is best taken here as meaning “out of his house” or “out of the place where he lives.” Sweeps may require adjusting in some languages to a nonfigure like “It blows him out of his house,” or to a different figure.
It hurls at him without pity: It refers to the east wind. Revised Standard Version notes that the Hebrew has “he,” which Revised Standard Version thinks refers to God, although God has not been mentioned since verse 13. Good News Translation also makes the east wind the subject. Hurls translates a verb meaning “to throw at.” There is no direct object expressed in this line nor in Numbers 35.20, where the same verb is used, but according to Dhorme, no object is required. Accordingly Bible en français courant, which makes God the subject, translates “Without having pity on them, God uses them as targets.” New Jerusalem Bible says “Piteously he is turned into a target.” If the east wind is the subject, then the verb “blows” is more appropriate than hurls: “It will blow down on them” (Good News Translation, which keeps the plural for the wicked). Without pity is literally “not sparing,” that is, “without holding anything back.” This line may be expressed “This wind blows at them with full force” or “… with all its might.”
He flees from its power in headlong flight: here the wicked man flees from what is literally “his (or, its) hand,” which Revised Standard Version translates its power, meaning “the force of the wind.” In headlong flight is used translationally by Revised Standard Version to bring out the force of the Hebrew construction, which serves to intensify the main verb. In a similar way Good News Translation “they try their best to escape” emphasizes the urgency of the wicked person’s flight. This line may also be rendered, for example, “he does all he can to run from its power” or “he tries hard to run away from this powerful wind.”
It claps its hands at him: Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation continue with “the wind” as the implied subject. The Hebrew has only the third person singular pronoun prefixed to the singular verb claps. An Revised Standard Version note indicates “he (that is God).” Moffatt understands it in this sense and translates “God openly derides him.” Bible de Jérusalem and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible translate with an impersonal subject, as does Bible en français courant: “One applauds on seeing them in this state.” New Jerusalem Bible has “His downfall is greeted with applause.” It seems most consistent with the context to keep “the wind” as the subject, even though the noun is not present in the Hebrew. Claps translates what is literally “beats his palms.” In Numbers 24.10 this gesture symbolizes anger: “And Balak’s anger was kindled against Balaam, and he struck his hands together….” In Lamentations 2.15 it is used to show “scorn, ridicule, derision.” The sense of scorn is to be taken here as it parallels the similar use of hisses in the next line. Neither Revised Standard Version nor Good News Translation gives the meaning of these two gestures. Good News Translation transposes the two lines, but “howls at them” is not made clear, and “frightening them” does not suggest scorn or ridicule. New International Version is to be preferred here, with “It claps its hands in derision.” In English “The wind howls scornfully at them” would be better. If the image of the wind clapping its hands in ridicule is not clear, it may be necessary to shift to a simile; for example, “The wind howls at them (him), like a person scorning them” or “The wind is like a person shouting ridicule at him.”
And hisses at him from its place: hisses is used in Jeremiah 49.17 and Zephaniah 2.15 to express ridicule, and so is parallel with claps in the previous line. In Lamentations 2.15 the people who pass by “clap their hands at you; they hiss and wag their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem.” From its place is understood variously by different interpreters. It may mean the place from which the wind hisses, as Revised Standard Version, or the place wherever the wicked person may be, so New English Bible “wherever he may be.” Good News Translation “as they run” seems to follow somewhat the second interpretation. In English verse 23 may be rendered “The wind howls scornfully at them, and laughs at them wherever they go.” In some languages it will be possible to make a parallel line in verse 23b by saying “and whistles at him wherever he goes” or “and whistles at him to scorn him wherever he may be.” In some languages to whistle at a person has a connotation which may be undesirable in this context. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy translates verse 23 as “The wind pursues him with loud noises and whistles.” Translators may be able to adapt from this model.
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 .
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