complete verse (Job 37:16)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 37:16:

  • Kupsabiny: “Or do you know what held the clouds in the sky?
    It is the words of God that shows his righteous wisdom.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “[Do you know] how the clouds are suspended in the sky?
    Do you know those amazing works of the One who is perfect in wisdom?” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Do you (sing.) know how the clouds float-around above? This is the work of the amazing God whose wisdom has no limit.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Only God knows everything perfectly;
    so do you know how he causes the clouds to <move/float> <amazingly/wonderfully> across the sky?/you certainly do not know how he causes the clouds to <move/float> <amazingly/wonderfully> across the sky!” (Source: Translation for Translators)

work(s) (of God) (Japanese honorifics)

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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 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) can be used, as in mi-ude (みわざ) or “work (of God)” in the referenced verses.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Job 37:16

Do you know the balancings of the clouds…?: balancings translates a word that occurs nowhere else in the Old Testament. A verb root with the same consonants meaning “equalize, balance” suggests the rendering of Revised Standard Version. However, balancings of the clouds does not give a clear picture of cloud activity, and so Good News Translation “float in the sky” is probably the intended idea. Wondrous works differs from the same wording used in verse 14 by only one letter and is best taken as a variation without trying to change it to something else. The expression is sometimes rendered “miracle” and refers to the activity in line a, as Good News Translation makes clear: “the work of God’s amazing skill.” Perfect in knowledge is the way Elihu modestly describes himself in 36.4. Here the expression applies to God.

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 .