complete verse (Job 39:4)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 39:4:

  • Kupsabiny: “Those children grow up there in the bush,
    and then they leave their mothers never to return!” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Their children would get bigger and would grow up in the open jungle.
    They went out and would not return.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “When- their children -grow-up in the forest, these leave and no-longer return.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “The young fawns grow up in the open fields,
    and then they leave their mothers and do not return to them again.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Job 39:4

Verse 4 is not related to the birth process of verses 1-3 but is a comment that emphasizes the early maturity of these wild animals. Their young ones become strong means that these newborn animals become healthy and vigorous. In the open translates an Aramaic word found only here and refers to the open countryside, free from restrictions put on domestic animals that are taken into enclosures to protect them. In the second line they go forth means “they leave”; that is, “they leave their mothers and do not return to 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 .