Translation commentary on Job 8:21

Verse 21 has two parallel lines, in which mouth and laughter in line a match lips and shouting in b. The verb fill does duty for both lines. He will yet fill your mouth with laughter: yet translates a Hebrew adverb which may, according to Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, mean “until, again, or while,” with “until” the most probable meaning. On the other hand, Dhorme takes it to mean “again” and translates as a passive, “Your mouth will again be filled with laughter.” And your lips with shouting: shouting translates a word which means “shout of joy” but can also mean “war cry” and is used in this sense in 39.25. In the sense of repeating the action, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy says “He will cause you to laugh again.” There is little intensification in the two parallel lines, and so some translators may find it best to reduce the two lines to one; for example, “He will cause you to laugh and shout with joy again.”

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 .

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