complete verse (Job 41:5)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 41:5:

  • Kupsabiny: “Do you think that you can tie it and play with it like a bird,
    or tie it with a rope for (your) girls/daughters to joke with it.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Can you keep him as a pet like birds [you] have kept?
    Can you tie him up with a line for your girls?” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Can- you (sing.) -make him like a pet bird or can- you -give him to your (sing.) children female so-that they can-play-with-it?” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Can you cause them to become pets like you cause birds to become your pets?
    Can you put a leash/rope around their necks so that your servant girls can play with them?” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Job 41:5

The irony continues as the LORD asks Job if he will make a plaything out of this fierce beast. In Psalm 104.26 Leviathan is described as playing in the sea.

Play with him as with a bird probably refers to the practice in some areas of children catching small birds and tying a string to the bird’s leg and letting it fly to the end of the string.

In the second line the question asks if Job will tie the beast with a rope to lead him and amuse his servant girls. For your maidens may require making the purpose clear; for example, “For your servant girls to watch.” The verse may be expressed “Will you tie him as you tie a bird to play with, or will you lead him around with a rope so your servant girls can watch?”

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 .