forget

The Hebrew, Latin, Ge’ez, and Greek that is translated as “forget” in English is translated in Noongar as dwangka-anbangbat, lit. “ear-lose.” (Source: Portions of the Holy Bible in the Nyunga language of Australia, 2018).

See also remember and forget (Japanese honorifics).

complete verse (Job 39:15)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 39:15:

  • Kupsabiny: “and (it) does not know that (they) can be crushed,
    or (that) wild animals (can) crack (them) with their teeth.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “But she forgets to think that a foot might trample that egg,
    or that a wild beast might trample it.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “She does- not -worry that this/it might be-stepped-upon or be-trampled by a wild animal.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Ostriches do not worry that some wild animal may step on the eggs and crush them.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Job 39:15

Forgetting that a foot may crush them depicts the ostrich failing to think of the danger to her eggs when she is not sitting on them. Forgetting implies that the ostrich once knew but no longer does. Good News Translation is better, with “She is unaware.” A foot may be that of a human or animal, more likely the latter in the desert, as line b shows. In line b it is a wild beast, meaning a “wild animal.” Trample is not a deliberate act. The animal may step on the eggs and crush them as it passes by. Verse 15 may also be translated as “She does not realize that something may crush them or that an animal may step on them.”

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 .