vision

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The Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin and Greek that is translated as “vision” in English is translated in a variety in the following languages:

  • Chol: “as if in a dream” (source: Robert Bascom)
  • Obolo: ilaak ọkpọchieen̄ or “dreaming awake” (source: Enene Enene)
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “a showing like dreams”
  • Desano: “see in a dream what God will send”
  • Rincón Zapotec: “see what God shows”
  • Mayo: “see things from God as in a dream”
  • Lalana Chinantec: “dream how it is going to be”
  • Chuj: “like dreaming they see”
  • San Mateo del Mar Huave: “understand what they see as if in a dream”
  • Ayutla Mixtec: “see that which will happen” (source for this and seven above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • Tagbanwa: “being caused to dream by God” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Chichewa: azidzaona zinthu m’masomphenya: “they will see things as if face-to-face” (interconfessional translation, publ. 1999) (Source: Wendland 1998, p. 69)
  • Mandarin Chinese: yì xiàng (异象 / 異象), lit. “different (or: strange) appearance.” (Source: Zetzsche)

The Greek in the books of Revelation and Acts is translated as obq-rmwible: “look-dream” in Natügu. Brenda Boerger (in Beerle-Moor / Voinov, p. 162ff.) tells the story of that translation: “In the book of Revelation, the author, John, talks about having visions. Mr. Simon [the native language translator] and I discussed what this meant and he invented the compound verb obq-rmwible ‘look-dream’ to express it. Interestingly, during village testing no one ever had to ask what this neologism meant.”

See also see a vision.

complete verse (Job 7:14)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 7:14:

  • Kupsabiny: “you bring me dreams that scare me.
    You make me see fierce/horrible things in those dreams.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “you frighten me in dreams,
    terrify me through visions.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “you (sing.) frighten me through dreams and vision.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Job 7:13 - 7:14

In these verses Job continues his complaint against God. Verse 13 is dependent on verse 14 to complete its thought, and may be taken as in Revised Standard Version or as a conditional sentence “If I say….” My bed will comfort me: Job in his anguish hopes he will find comfort and relief when he goes to bed to sleep. My couch is parallel to My bed in the previous line but is without heightened poetic effect. Will ease my complaint matches comfort me. Job’s complaint is not just for his physical illness but for the deeper anguish he is unable to escape. In some languages it will not be possible to find a pair of words with similar meaning such as bed and couch. It is possible in many cases to avoid one or even both nouns and employ verb phrases; for example, “When I lie down to sleep” and “When I go to bed.”

Verse 14 completes the thought of verse 13. The two lines of this verse are parallel, saying something very similar. Their purpose is to emphasize Job’s complaint against God, who will not even leave him alone in peace while he sleeps. Then thou dost scare me with dreams: then refers to the time when Job is in bed and sleeping. Eliphaz received his revelations in a vision of the night. For Job such visions are a further source of torment. Terrify me with visions is not intended to represent a different reaction nor a different experience. The two lines say very much the same thing. However, the verb translated terrify is in the Hebrew intensive form, which heightens the poetic feeling in line b. In some languages it may be necessary to say, for example, “You give me bad dreams that scare me” or “You make me have bad dreams and they scare me.” There is no attempt to distinguish visions from dreams in the parallel lines. The focus is rather on Job’s reaction to these nighttime experiences.

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 .