The Hebrew in Job 33:23 that is translated as “mediator” in English is translated in Newari as “one who works, being between God and man” (source: Newari Back Translation).
See also mediator.
angel
The Greek, Hebrew, Ge’ez, and Aramaic that is translated as “angel” in English versions is translated in many ways:
- Pintupi-Luritja: ngaṉka ngurrara: “one who belongs in the sky” (source: Ken Hansen quoted in Steven 1984a, p. 116.)
- Tetela, Kpelle, Balinese, and Mandarin Chinese: “heavenly messenger”
- Shilluk / Igede: “spirit messenger”
- Mashco Piro: “messenger of God”
- Batak Toba: “envoy, messenger”
- Navajo (Dinė): “holy servant” (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida 1961; Igede: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
- Central Mazahua: “God’s worker” (source: Ronald D. Olson in Notes on Translation January, 1968, p. 15ff.)
- Saramaccan: basia u Masa Gaangadu köndë or “messenger from God’s country” (source: Jabini 2015, p. 86)
- Mairasi: atatnyev nyaa or “sent-one” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
- Shipibo-Conibo: “word bringer” (source: James Lauriault in The Bible Translator 1951, p. 32ff. )
- Apali: “God’s one with talk from the head” (“basically God’s messenger since head refers to any leader’s talk”) (source: Martha Wade)
- Michoacán Nahuatl: “clean helper of God” (source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)
- Noongar: Hdjin-djin-kwabba or “spirit good” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
- Wè Northern (Wɛɛ): Kea ‘a “sooa or “the Lord’s soldier” (also: “God’s soldier” or “his soldier”) (source: Drew Maust)
- Iwaidja: “a man sent with a message” (Sam Freney explains the genesis of this term [in this article ): “For example, in Darwin last year, as we were working on a new translation of Luke 2:6–12 in Iwaidja, a Northern Territory language, the translators had written ‘angel’ as ‘a man with eagle wings’. Even before getting to the question of whether this was an accurate term (or one that imported some other information in), the word for ‘eagle’ started getting discussed. One of the translators had her teenage granddaughter with her, and this word didn’t mean anything to her at all. She’d never heard of it, as it was an archaic term that younger people didn’t use anymore. They ended up changing the translation of ‘angel’ to something like ‘a man sent with a message’, which is both more accurate and clear.”)
Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between. One way to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. When the referent is God, the “divine” honorific prefix mi- (御 or み) is used as in mi-tsukai (御使い) or “messenger (of God).” (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
See also angel (Acts 12:15) and this devotion on YouVersion .
complete verse (Job 33:23)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 33:23:
- Kupsabiny: “Maybe when/if God just sends an angel,
from among the many angels,
(he) will show a person about what (he) should do,” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation) - Newari: “Yet if one among the thousands of angels,
a mediator [lit.: one who works, being between God and man],
stood close to him to remind him what would be right for him to do, ” (Source: Newari Back Translation) - Hiligaynon: “‘But if there is only one out of a thousand angels who will-intercede between him and God, and will-remind him what is right that he should do,” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
- English: ““But sometimes an angel may come to one of us,
one of the thousands of angels who come to intervene between us and God,
to tell us what are the right things for us to do.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Translation commentary on Job 33:23
If there be for him an angel, a mediator, one of the thousand: Revised Standard Version translates verse 23 as an “if” clause, with the consequence of verses 23 and 24 coming in verse 26. Good News Translation, which has shorter sentences, uses quite different sentence relations. The wording of Revised Standard Version is rather literal and may be expressed “If an angel comes to him.” In 5.1 a different word for angel was used, where Good News Translation translated “Is there any angel to whom you can turn?” In both cases the reference is to someone who comes to help in a difficult situation. In apposition with angel is a second term, mediator, which translates a Hebrew word referring to one who interprets or comes between opposing parties to resolve their differences. Good News Translation avoids mediator as a technical term and says “comes to his aid.” One of the thousand makes it appear that there are exactly one thousand such beings. Good News Translation is clearer with “One of God’s thousands of angels.” Daniel 7.10 refers to the vast numbers of heavenly servants as “a thousand thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand.”
To declare to man what is right for him is literally “to declare for man his uprightness.” The purpose of the angel is to recall to the person what he should do, and so Good News Translation “remind men of their duty.” Bible en français courant may serve as a translation model for verse 23: “But an angel, one of the thousands of God’s mediators close to this man, is enough to make him know the right way.” This may also be expressed “But one of the thousands of God’s messengers (or, persons) who come to help someone is enough to show him what is right.”
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 .
3rd person pronoun with high register (Japanese)
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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a third person singular and plural pronoun (“he,” “she,” “it” and their various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. While it’s not uncommon to avoid pronouns altogether in Japanese, there are is a range of third person pronouns that can be used. In these verses a number of them are used that pay particularly much respect to the referred person (or, in fact, God, as in Exodus 15:2), including kono kata (この方), sono kata (その方), and ano kata (あの方), meaning “this person,” “that person,” and “that person over there.”
(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
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