complete verse (Job 41:28)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 41:28:

  • Kupsabiny: “An arrow does not frighten it
    and it does fell if stones are thrown at it.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Arrows cannot send him off chasing him away.
    For him a stone shot by the captain is for him like a head of chaff.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “When he is-being-hit-by-an-arrow he does- not -flee. The stones that are-slung-by-a-sling to him (it is) as-if just chaff for him.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Job 41:28

In verse 26 the weapons are held or thrown. In verse 28 the weapons are shot by strings. Arrow in the first line is literally “son of bow,” a different expression than that used in verse 26b. “Shooting an arrow at him does not make him run away.”

For him slingstones are turned to stubble: slingstones refers to stones that are thrown from a sling. A sling consists of two cords attached to a pouch where the stone is placed. The cords are held so that, as the sling revolves over the head of the thrower, one cord is released, the pouch opens, and the stone flies out. David used a sling to kill Goliath in 1 Samuel 17.49,50. For a further description see a Bible dictionary. Turned to stubble means they have no more effect than if they were made of straw. Stubble translates a word meaning “chaff,” which is the lightest part of the straw blown from the grain in winnowing. See 5.26 for a description. Good News Translation is correct, with “like bits of straw.” In languages in which the slingshot is not known, the translator may follow something like Good News Translation, “rocks thrown at him.”

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 .