complete verse (Job 6:28)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 6:28:

  • Kupsabiny: “Look carefully/well at me today.
    Do you think I am deceiving you?” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “But be kind to me and turn to me and see.
    Does it look like I have been lying to your face? ” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “[You (plur.)] look-at me! Would- I -lie to you (plur.)?” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)

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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Job 6:28

Job now concludes his speech by asking them to face him honestly and stop trying to deceive him. He is a righteous sufferer and wants them to accept him as such.

But now, be pleased to look at me: Job is not asking them to look at him and be pleased with what they see, but rather to “be so good as to look at me,” “please look at me.” New Jerusalem Bible has “Be so good as to face me.” In Hebrew the verb “face” in line a is matched by the noun “face” in line b. Good News Translation “Look me in the face” is abrupt but gives the meaning. The two lines are not parallel apart from the matching of “face” in both. Line b is something of a consequence of line a. I will not lie to your face: Revised Standard Version uses the word face in line b only, perhaps to avoid repetition. Job is appealing for an open and sincere communication in which they will look each other in the eye. Translators should not attempt to preserve “face” in both lines unless it is perfectly natural.

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 .