complete verse (Job 41:32)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 41:32:

  • Kupsabiny: “When it moves through the ocean foam appears in its path.
    That foam is white like the white head/hear of an old man.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “He leaves a sparkling wake [lit.: sign] behind him in the water.
    It looks like white hair in [lit.: of] the sea.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “The water that he would-pass-through boils white, that when looking-at seems-like white hair.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Job 41:32

Behind him he leaves a shining wake is literally “Behind him he lights a path.” The foam he leaves behind him as he swims through the water looks like a path. Wake refers to the wave, or momentary track, left on the water’s surface by a boat or other surface object moving through the water. Shining wake refers to the whiteness of the foam.

One would think the deep to be hoary: the deep is the same word used in 28.14; 38.16, 30. The reference is to the deep sea. Hoary translates “gray head,” that is, a head covered with white or gray hair. Here it refers to the foam on the water, which is expressed by the metaphor of the white head of hair. Good News Translation drops the figure and says “turns the sea to white foam.” Bible en français courant retains the image, with “silver hair floating on the surface of the deep water.” The verse may be rendered “When he swims he leaves behind him a shining path of foam” or “When he goes through the water, he leaves behind a white and shining path of foam.”

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 .