complete verse (Job 39:22)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 39:22:

  • Kupsabiny: “A horse is never afraid
    or turns around in a battle.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “It laughs at fear, it is not frightened at all,
    seeing a sword, it does not run away.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “He fears no one, and he does- not -flee from sword.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “It is as if they laugh at the thought of being afraid. They are not afraid of anything!
    They do not run away when the soldiers in the battle are fighting each other with swords.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Job 39:22

He laughs at fear depicts the war horse scorning the thought of fear just as the fast moving ostrich laughs at the horse and rider in verse 18, and the donkey at the noise of the city in verse 7. Laughs at means “to make fun, ridicule, scorn.” Not only does the horse not show signs of fear, but he laughs at fear. He is not dismayed means “he is not afraid, is not frightened.”

Turn back from the sword means he does not run away from where the sword is being used, or, more generally, “he does not run away from the heat of the battle.” Verse 22 may also be expressed “He (they) has no thought of fear, and he does not run away from where the fighting is” or “Where others fear, he (they) snorts; he does not turn and run from the battle.”

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 .