complete verse (Job 27:7)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 27:7:

  • Kupsabiny: “God should punish those who oppose me
    because he punishes sinners and those who are not straight.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “May my enemy like the wicked,
    may my opponent be like the unjust. ” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “‘May-it-be that the ones-who-go-against me will-be-punished by God with the punishment that fits to the wicked people.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “‘I want my enemies to be punished like all wicked people are punished;
    I want God to punish those who oppose me like he punishes all unrighteous people.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

enemy / foe

The Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Ge’ez, and Latin that is translated as “enemy” or “foe” in English is translated in the Hausa Common Language Bible as “friends of front,” i.e., the person standing opposite you in a battle. (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)

In North Alaskan Inupiatun it is translated with a term that implies that it’s not just someone who hates you, but one who wants to do you harm (Source: Robert Bascom), in Tarok as ukpa ìkum or “companion in war/fighting,” and in Ikwere as nye irno m or “person who hates me” (source for this and one above: Chuck and Karen Tessaro in this newsletter ).

Translation commentary on Job 27:7

Let my enemy be as the wicked: the same words translated wicked and unrighteous in the following line are found in parallel in Job’s speech in 16.11. Dhorme believes this fact connects verse 7 to verse 6, and so this is still the speech of Job. This line says that my enemy should suffer, that is, they ought to have the same fate as the wicked. Good News Translation uses the passive in line b “be punished,” which will often have to be shifted to the active with God as the actor: “May God punish my enemies (cause them to suffer) the way he punishes the wicked.”

And let him that rises up against me be as the unrighteous: him that rises up translates a Hebrew participle which may be rendered “my opponents” or “those who … fight against me,” as in Good News Translation. Be as the unrighteous is parallel in meaning to the expression be as the wicked in line a. They are to suffer the same fate. Good News Translation has brought the two parallel expressions together in line b as “be punished like wicked, unrighteous men.”

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 .