Job

The name 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 .

drink

In Telugu different verbs for humans drinking (tāgu / తాగు) and animals drinking (cēḍu / చేడు) are required.

complete verse (Job 34:7)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 34:7:

  • Kupsabiny: “Who has ever seen a man like this?
    Does this man not respect God at all?” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “One who scorns God as easily as he drinks water,
    what [other] honorable man is there like Job?” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “‘No man is like Job who is thirsty to scorn.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Job 34:7

In asking What man is like Job, Elihu uses Job’s name for the second time. Elihu’s question is equivalent to “Is there anyone like Job?” or “What kind of a man is Job?”

Who drinks up scoffing like water quotes 15.16b almost to the word. There Eliphaz said it of mankind in general, but here Elihu applies it strictly to Job. There it was “iniquity,” but here it is scoffing. Job’s “mockery, ridicule, scorn” are directed at religious and moral truths, as these are held by Elihu and the friends. In English the figure drinks up scoffing suggests that such a person can absorb or withstand a great deal of ridicule without being affected. But the figure as used here refers to a person who ridicules someone a great deal. The object of Job’s scoffing is God, or perhaps religion as viewed by the friends. Good News Translation, which translates the drinking figure as “never shows respect,” has God as the object. Bible en français courant has attempted to retain the figure through the use of a simile: “He deals in ridicule as easily as he drinks a glass of water.” In some languages we may say “he pours out scorn as easily as he pours water out of a cup” or “he spits out ridicule as easily as he drinks water.”

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 .