listen / pay attention

The Hebrew, Ge’ez, and Greek that is translated as “listen” or “pay attention” or something similar in English is translated in the Contemporary Chichewa translation (2002/2016) with the idiom tcherani khutu, literally “you set ear.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

complete verse (Job 34:2)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 34:2:

  • Kupsabiny: “‘Listen to my words
    you who are wise.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Oh wise men, please listen carefully to my words,
    Oh man who has much insight, please give ear to my words! ” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “‘You (plur.) who say that you (plur.) are wise and know many (things), you (plur.) listen to me carefully.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Job 34:1 - 34:2

Then Elihu said is the usual prose indication of the continuation of Elihu’s argument.

Hear my words, you wise men closely resembles Elihu’s appeal to Job in 33.1. Here Elihu addresses the three friends. The form of this verse is balanced, with “Hear, wise men” in line a and “Knowers, listen” in line b. There is typical poetic heightening in the movement between the lines, which has the common word for “listen” in line a, while line b is the more literary “give ear to.” You wise men is “you (plural) who are wise,” and you who know is “you (plural) who know things.” Such words in Elihu’s mouth are sarcasm. In 15.2, 18 Eliphaz clearly identified himself with the wise men, but in 32.9 Elihu said that it is not the aged that are wise. So if Elihu is addressing the three friends, he is speaking ironically, and this is the best way to understand this verse. Elihu considers himself to be the teacher. Good News Translation brings out the irony: “You men are so wise, so clever.”

And give ear to me, you who know repeats the thought of line a with the poetic movement suggested above. You who know is a pluralized noun form of the verb “to know,” and so “knowers,” “people who know things.” Habel translates this as “judges,” but the sense is more that of “learned men,” “those who have great experience.”

Translators should express the sarcasm or irony of Elihu. Irony is the use of words whose intended meaning is the opposite of the literal sense of the words. In other words Elihu does not consider the friends to be wise, but calls them wise to ridicule them. In some languages special elements in the sentence are used to show that the reader or listener is to understand the meaning to be the opposite of what appears. In other languages it may be necessary to say, for example, “you men who people say are wise” or “you men who call yourselves wise.” You who know may sometimes be rendered, for example, “you men who think you know things.”

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 .