Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 10:3:
Kupsabiny: “What does it benefit you when you are rude to me? What does it benefit you when you insult what you have made with your own hands, and rejoice over the schemes of sinners?” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Will you be happy to do injustice against me Will you be happy rejecting me, your own hand work? while smiling at plans of wicked.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Are you (sing.) pleased in causing- me -to-suffer? Why do- you (sing.) -forsake me whom you (sing.) created/made, and you (sing.) favor the schemes of the wicked-ones?” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Job, should your babbling cause us to be silent?/your babbling should certainly not cause us to be silent. When you make fun of us, shall no one rebuke you and cause you to be ashamed?” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Translators of different languages have found different ways with what kind of formality God is addressed. The first example is from a language where God is always addressed distinctly formal whereas the second is one where the opposite choice was made.
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Like many languages (but unlike Greek or Hebrew or English), Tuvan uses a formal vs. informal 2nd person pronoun (a familiar vs. a respectful “you”). Unlike other languages that have this feature, however, the translators of the Tuvan Bible have attempted to be very consistent in using the different forms of address in every case a 2nd person pronoun has to be used in the translation of the biblical text.
As Voinov shows in Pronominal Theology in Translating the Gospels (in: The Bible Translator2002, p. 210ff. ), the choice to use either of the pronouns many times involved theological judgment. While the formal pronoun can signal personal distance or a social/power distance between the speaker and addressee, the informal pronoun can indicate familiarity or social/power equality between speaker and addressee.
In these verses, in which humans address God, the informal, familiar pronoun is used that communicates closeness.
Voinov notes that “in the Tuvan Bible, God is only addressed with the informal pronoun. No exceptions. An interesting thing about this is that I’ve heard new Tuvan believers praying with the formal form to God until they are corrected by other Christians who tell them that God is close to us so we should address him with the informal pronoun. As a result, the informal pronoun is the only one that is used in praying to God among the Tuvan church.”
In Gbaya, “a superior, whether father, uncle, or older brother, mother, aunt, or older sister, president, governor, or chief, is never addressed in the singular unless the speaker intends a deliberate insult. When addressing the superior face to face, the second person plural pronoun ɛ́nɛ́ or ‘you (pl.)’ is used, similar to the French usage of vous.
Accordingly, the translators of the current version of the Gbaya Bible chose to use the plural ɛ́nɛ́ to address God. There are a few exceptions. In Psalms 86:8, 97:9, and 138:1, God is addressed alongside other “gods,” and here the third person pronoun o is used to avoid confusion about who is being addressed. In several New Testament passages (Matthew 21:23, 26:68, 27:40, Mark 11:28, Luke 20:2, 23:37, as well as in Jesus’ interaction with Pilate and Jesus’ interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well) the less courteous form for Jesus is used to indicate ignorance of his position or mocking (source Philip Noss).
In Dutch and Western Frisian translations, however, God is always addressed with the formal pronoun.
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 to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. When the referent is God, the “divine” honorific prefix mi- (御 or み) is used here in mi-te (御手) or “hand (of God).”
Job, of course, receives no reply, but the next step in his rehearsal will be to put a series of rhetorical questions to his oppressor. The purpose of these questions is to make God think again about his actions against Job.
In verses 3-7 and 9-10 Revised Standard Version uses rhetorical questions. Translators should determine whether all, part, or none of these should be translated as rhetorical questions. See the comments on this device in “Translating the Book of Job,” page 16.
Does it seem good to thee to oppress …: this expresses the irony of Job’s mood. In Genesis 1.31 “God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.” By contrast the manner in which Job has been dealt with by his creator suggests not only that God looks upon the creation of Job as bad, but that God looks upon it as actually something to be oppressed and despised. The word translated oppress is used again in 40.23 (“is turbulent”). The meaning here is “to be strong and violent” and is well rendered by Good News Translation as “cruel.” Job’s question can be restated as “What benefit (pleasure) do you get by torturing me?” Other translation models: “What good does it do you to treat me badly?” or “What purpose is there in your hurting me?”
To despise the work of thy hands: despise means “spurn, reject, consider of no value.” The work of thy hands refers to God’s act of creating, or to the things he has made. Other renderings are “Why do you reject what you yourself have made?” “Why do you throw away as worthless what you have created?” or “Why do you discard the thing you have made with your own hands?”
And favor the designs of the wicked: favor translates a verb meaning to have a glowing face, to be radiant or to smile. Therefore Dhorme translates “to smile at the counsel of the wicked?” Similarly Good News Translation “smile on the schemes of wicked men?” Designs translates the same expression used in Psalm 1.1, “the counsel of the wicked,” and elsewhere is rendered “schemes, plans, projects, intrigues.” This line may be expressed, for example, “and then look with satisfaction on the deceits of evil people” or “and be happy with the schemes of wicked people.”
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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