angry

The Hebrew, Greek and Latin that is translated as “(was or became) angry” in English is translated in Kwere as “saw anger.” In Kwere, emotions are always paired with sensory verbs (seeing or smelling or hearing). (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

In Bariai it is “to have grumbling interiors” (source: Bariai Back Translation).

See also anger and feel (terror, pain, suffering, anxiety).

anger

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The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated as “anger” or similar in English in this verse is translated with a variety of solutions (Bratcher / Nida says: “Since anger has so many manifestations and seems to affect so many aspects of personality, it is not strange that expressions used to describe this emotional response are so varied”).

  • Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “be warm inside”
  • Mende: “have a cut heart”
  • Mískito: “have a split heart”
  • Tzotzil: “have a hot heart”
  • Mossi: “a swollen heart”
  • Western Kanjobal: “fire of the viscera”
  • San Blas Kuna: “pain in the heart”
  • Chimborazo Highland Quichua: “not with good eye”
  • Chichewa: “have a burning heart” (source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation) (see also anger burned in him)
  • Citak: two different terms, one meaning “angry” and one meaning “offended,” both are actually descriptions of facial expressions. The former can be represented by an angry stretching of the eyes or by an angry frown. The latter is similarly expressed by an offended type of frown with one’s head lowered. (Source: Graham Ogden)

In Akan, a number of metaphors are used, most importantly abufuo, lit. “weedy chest” (the chest is seen as a container that contains the heart but can also metaphorically be filled with other fluids etc.), but also abufuhyeε lit. “hot/burning weedy chest” and anibereε, lit. “reddened eyes.” (Source: Gladys Nyarko Ansah in Kövecses / Benczes / Szelid 2024, p. 21ff.)

See also God’s anger and angry.

complete verse (Job 32:3)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 32:3:

  • Kupsabiny: “He was again/also angry with those three friends of Job because they were defeated in showing Job the truth and yet they condemned him.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “He also became angry with those three friends. For they had no answer to give Job. [Yet] yes indeed, they had judged him [to be] a sinner.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “He was also angry with the three friends of Job for they can- not -prove that Job has-sinned and it comes-out that God is the one who has a sin.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Job 32:3

In verse 3 Elihu “burns with anger” at Job’s three friends. The reason is because they had found no answer. That is, the friends did not know how to respond to Job (for lack of wisdom). Good News Translation has restructured the clause as a new sentence. Verse 3b in Revised Standard Version says although they had declared Job to be in the wrong. On the other hand Good News Translation says “this made it appear that God was in the wrong.” Modern translations are divided between those that translate Job and those that translate “God.” According to Jewish tradition Job in this passage is another of the eighteen scribal corrections where the original text of the Hebrew Bible was altered out of reverence to God. To write a clause saying that “God was in the wrong” would seem to be blasphemy, and they could not read it aloud; therefore the text was changed to read “Job.” (The only other such scribal correction in the Book of Job occurs at 7.20.) The text that reads “God” implies that, by giving up the argument, the three friends were declaring Job right and God wrong.

Although many scholars prefer to take the text to be as in Good News Translation, “God was in the wrong,” others argue that giving up the argument does not imply putting God in the wrong, and so the present Hebrew text should be kept. Rowley would keep Revised Standard Version but translate “and so (that is, by finding an answer) shown Job to be in the wrong.” Tur-Sinai translates “because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job.” Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, which classifies the Hebrew text here as a “B” reading, suggests a rendering which may be reworded to say “Although the friends found no answer to give Job, they still found him unfaithful to God.” Since it is not possible to rule out either possibility, translators are free to follow either Good News Translation or one of the adaptations of Revised Standard Version. Therefore we may translate, for example, “Elihu was also angry at the three friends because they could not show Job that he was wrong and so had let God appear to be wrong” or “… they could not refute Job, but still they condemned him.” Some translations provide a footnote to say “The Hebrew reads ‘thus leaving Job in the wrong.’ ”

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 .