complete verse (Job 7:21)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 7:21:

  • Kupsabiny: “Don’t you want to forgive me for my disobedience?
    Have you said that you will not sweep away my sin?
    Yet I am close to dying and being buried,
    then you will search for me, but in vain!’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Why did you not pardon my transgressions
    and forgive my sins?
    Soon, now, I will reach the grave.
    When you search for me I will not exist.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “If I in-fact did sin, why don’t you (sing.) just forgive me? Soon I will-die, and even if you (sing.) will-look for me, you (sing.) will- no-longer -find me.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

Japanese benefactives (torisatte)

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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 benefactive construction as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. Here, torisatte (取り去って) or “take away” is used in combination with kudasaru (くださる), a respectful form of the benefactive kureru (くれる). A benefactive reflects the good will of the giver or the gratitude of a recipient of the favor. To convey this connotation, English translation needs to employ a phrase such as “for me (my sake)” or “for you (your sake).”

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

Translation commentary on Job 7:21

Having completed his complaint about being God’s target, Job reproaches God with a set of parallel questions. Why dost thou not pardon my transgression…?: here Job appears to make a mock plea. He makes no request for pardon with an affirmation of trust in God’s mercy, nor does he confess guilt. The only reason God would pardon him is because Job will soon be dead and gone. Dhorme suggests that the verb translated pardon, which means to “raise, carry, lift, endure,” takes on the meaning of tolerate when used with transgression or fault as its object, and so translates “And why dost thou not tolerate my transgression and overlook my fault?” Take away my iniquity is parallel in both meaning and structure to the previous line. Bible en français courant says “Why do you refuse to put up with my sin, to forgive my wrongs?” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch says “Can you not take away my mistakes, and simply overlook my sins?”

For now I shall lie in the earth: For now introduces the reason for Job’s ironical request. Job will soon be dead and in the grave, and it will be too late to consider him further. In the earth translates the Hebrew “in the dust.” In 20.11 and 21.26 the expression “lie down in the dust” means to die. In 17.16 Job asks “Shall we descend together into the dust?” Dust is one of the characteristics of Sheol. Good News Translation says “Soon I will be in my grave.” Translators may keep the poetic effect by using an appropriate metaphor for death. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy says “Soon I will be stretched out in the dust.” Thou wilt seek me: seek translates a word meaning to seek diligently, carefully. The word is used in Psalm 63.1 for worshipers who eagerly seek Yahweh in the temple. Job ironically reverses the picture and has God seeking Job, his victim. But I shall not be: although Psalm 139.8 claims it is impossible to escape God in Sheol, Job asserts that once he dies God will no longer be able to hound him or to pardon him. For Job the land of the dead is the only place of freedom, the only escape. But I shall not be may have to be expanded to complete the sense; for example, “But I will no longer exist” or “But I will have ceased to be a living person.”

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 .