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 .

complete verse (Job 3:23)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 3:23:

  • Kupsabiny: “A person whose path is covered/blocked should not continue to live,
    this is a person that God has stopped/prevented/blocked.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “A man’s way has been hidden,
    and God has hedged him in on all sides.
    Why is life given to him?” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Why allow a man to live wherein he does not know his destination? God has-willed that he will- not -know his future.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Those who do not know where they are eventually going when they die ,
    people whom God has forced to continue to live in misery,
    it is not right that they continue to live./why do they continue to live?” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Job 3:23

In 1.10 Satan claimed that God put a hedge of protection around Job and all he possessed. Now Job objects that God has imprisoned him with a hedge that prevents him from finding any hope in life. He expresses this thought first by asking Why is light given to a man whose way is hid? In Hebrew Why is light given is left implicit, but the question is supplied in Revised Standard Version and others from verse 20a. The translator may, like Revised Standard Version, supply the question from verse 20 or, like Good News Translation, avoid the question form and make a statement. Light here as in verse 20 refers to the “light of life,” that is, physical life. Job clearly implies that God is the one who hides a man’s way. Accordingly Good News Translation supplies God as the subject and shifts from a question to a statement: “God keeps their future hidden.” The word translated way in Revised Standard Version refers in wisdom literature to a person’s conduct or personal destiny (so Habel). Many modern versions retain the idea of way, often through the use of a verb phrase; for example, Bible en français courant has “a man who does not know where he is going.” The sense of being ignorant of where one is headed may be expressed as “God makes them go along blindly” or “God keeps them from seeing where they are going.”

Whom God has hedged in: Job again mentions God by the same name as in 3.4. The object of the verb hedge is singular; however, Good News Translation, which uses the impersonal “their” in the first line, must also use the plural in the second “hems them in.” In this verse Job finally comes to the point of declaring God to be his adversary, the one who is causing him to suffer and despair. For translation comments see 1.10.

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 .