Job

The Hebrew and Greek that is transliterated as “Job” in English means “the persecuted,” “hated,” “one ever returning to God,” “he that weeps,” “a desert.” (Source: Cornwall / Smith 1997 )

In Spanish Sign Language it is translated with a sign for “patience,” referring to James 5:11 and many other passages within the book of Job. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)


“Job” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España

In Swiss-German Sign Language it is translated with the sign for “suffering.”


“Job” in Swiss-German Sign Language, source: DSGS-Lexikon biblischer Begriffe , © CGG Schweiz

In Hungarian Sign Language it is translated with a sign that refers to the ulcers (sores) covering his body (see Job 2:7). (Source: Jenjelvi Biblia and HSL Bible Translation Group)


“Job” in Hungarian Sign Language — note that only the first part refers to “Job,” the second part refers to “book” (source )

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Job .

wheat

Two kinds of wild wheat have grown in the open deciduous oak woodland in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent for several thousand years: Einkorn Wheat Triticum monococcum and Emmer Wheat Triticum dicoccum. Both came into cultivation together with barley. Just before the time of the Romans, the Naked Bread Wheat or Hard Wheat Triticum durum started replacing the hulled varieties. This then became the favorite type of wheat for bread and macaroni. Spelt is a sub-member of the Triticum aestivum species.

In New Revised Standard Version, updated edition and some other versions, the generic Hebrew word bar has been rendered “wheat” in Jeremiah 23:28 et al. This is legitimate, since the grain referred to by bar was probably wheat. However, it might be better to say “grain” in these passages.

The most important early wheat for the Israelites was emmer, probably the only wheat known in Egypt, and referred to in Hebrew as chittah. However, according to Hepper (Baker Encyclopedia of Bible Plants: Flowers and Trees, Fruits and Vegetables, Ecology. Baker Book House, 1992), the seven-headed wheat of the Egyptian king’s dream (Genesis 41:5ff.) suggests that there may also have been Triticum turgidum (rivet wheat) in the emmer group. The Hebrew word kusemeth probably refers to a type of emmer wheat that the Egyptians called swt.

Wheat is a type of grass like rice and barley, growing to around 75 centimeters (2.5 feet) in height and having a head with many small grains in rows.

Bread made from wheat was the staple food for the people of ancient Israel, so God punished them by breaking “the staff of bread” (see, for example, Ezekiel 4:16).

If wheat is unfamiliar, translators can transliterate from a major language in non-rhetorical contexts (for example, English witi, Portuguese trigo, French ble or froment, Swahili ngano, Arabic kama/alkama). The transliteration may add a generic tag such as “grain.” The New Testament passages are mostly rhetorical, opening the possibility for a metaphorical equivalent.

Wheat head, photo by Gloria Suess

Source: Each According to its Kind: Plants and Trees in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)

complete verse (Job 31:40)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 31:40:

  • Kupsabiny: “then instead of wheat and barley growing there it should be
    thorntrees and a bush growing.’
    The speech of Job ends here.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “then let the thistles grow instead of barley,
    and weeds instead of wheat.
    The words of Job are ended.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “may-it-happen that would-grow on my land thorny bushes and grass instead of wheat and barley.’
    The speech of Job ended here.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

barley

Barley Hordeum distichum or Hordeum vulgare is a type of grass like wheat and rice. It has been cultivated in the Middle East for thousands of years and is now one of the most prominent seed crops grown in the world. Twenty species are known, of which eight are European. Barley needs less rain than wheat does, so in the Holy Land it was typically found in the drier areas above the coastal plain and near the desert. From 2 Kings 7:1 and Revelation 6:6 we know that barley was considered inferior to wheat and was often used to feed animals, as it is today. When the wheat supply ran out, people had to make their bread with barley. Barley was gathered before wheat, the harvest coming around March or April in the lower regions and in May in the mountains (see Exodus 9:31 et al.). In Egypt and in ancient Greece barley was used to make beer.

Barley plants look like wheat or rice. They are less than 1 meter (3 feet) tall, and have a single head on each stalk, with six rows of kernels, although the biblical kind may have had only two rows. The head bends at a down-ward angle when it is ripe.

In the story of Gideon and the Midianites in Judges 7:13, “a cake of barley” representing the (despised) Israelite army tumbles into the Midianite camp and knocks down the tent (representing the nomadic Midianites).

Barley is a plant of temperate zones, like Europe and the Near East; it does not grow well in the tropics. However, barley has been recently introduced along with wheat into many parts of the world for brewing beer and other malted drinks. It is also known to have grown in Korea as early as 1500 B.C. along with wheat and millet. It is becoming known in Malay as barli. Except for the reference in Judges, all references to barley in the Bible are non-rhetorical, so unrelated cultural equivalents are discouraged. Some receptor language speakers may coin a name for it as in Malay, or the translator can use a transliteration from Hebrew (se‘orah), Latin (horideyo), or from a major language (for example, Arabic sha’ir, Spanish cebada, French orge, Portuguese cevada, Swahili shayiri), together with a classifier, if there is one (for example, “grain of shayir”).

Barley, Wikimedia Commons

Source: Each According to its Kind: Plants and Trees in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)

See also barley bread.

Translation commentary on Job 31:40

Verse 40 is the imprecation, or curse, that Job places upon himself if he is guilty of the crimes in verses 38 and 39. It is appropriate that the curse apply to the land, which has been the subject in the final three verses.

Let thorns grow instead of wheat: in Genesis 3.18 God told Adam that the ground is cursed and that thorns and thistles would come from it; however, the words are different from the ones used here. The word translated thorns is rendered in 2 Kings 14.9 as “thorn bush” (Good News Translation) and in Isaiah 34.13 “thistles.” Wheat and barley were the most prized grain crops and occur together in Deuteronomy 8.8 and Joel 1.11.

And foul weeds instead of barley: the word translated foul weeds occurs only here in the Old Testament, but it is derived from the verb meaning “to have a bad odor.” There is little point in trying to be too specific in the translation of this term, unless there is a weed that commonly grows in uncultivated soil and has a bad odor. In languages in which wheat and barley are unknown, translators should follow the procedure suggested in 28.18.

The words of Job are ended: these words are in prose form. The reference is to all that Job has said in chapters 29–31. Job will speak again briefly in chapters 40 and 42. We may translate “Job has finished speaking” or “Job will not make any more speeches.”

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 .