The Hebrew and Greek that is transliterated as “Job” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with a sign for “patience,” referring to James 5:11 and many other passages within the book of Job. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
The Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek terms that are often translated as “worship” (also, “kneel down” or “bow down”) are likewise translated in other languages in certain categories, including those based on physical activity, those which incorporate some element of “speaking” or “declaring,” and those which specify some type of mental activity.
Following is a list of (back-) translations (click or tap for details):
Obolo: itọtọbọ ebum: “express reverence and devotion” (source: Enene Enene)
Ngäbere: “cut oneself down before” (“This figure of speech comes from the picture of towering mahoganies in the forest which, under the woodman’s ax, quiver, waver, and then in solemn, thunderous crashing bury their lofty heads in the upstretched arms of the surrounding forest. This is the experience of every true worshiper who sees ‘the Lord, high and lifted up.’ Our own unworthiness brings us low. As the Valientes say, ‘we cut ourselves down before’ His presence. Our heads, which have been carried high in self-confidence, sink lower and lower in worship.)
Tzeltal: “end oneself before God.” (“Only by coming to the end of oneself can one truly worship. The animist worships his deities in the hope of receiving corresponding benefits, and some pagans in Christendom think that church attendance is a guarantee of success in this life and good luck in the future. But God has never set a price on worship except the price that we must pay, namely, ‘coming to the end of ourselves.'”) (Source of this and the one above: Nida 1952, p. 163)
Folopa: “die under God” (“an idiom that roughly back-translates “dying under God” which means lifting up his name and praising him and to acknowledge by everything one does and thanks that God is superior.”) (Source: Anderson / Moore, p. 202)
Chokwe: kuivayila — “rub something on” (“When anyone goes into the presence of a king or other superior, according to native law and custom the inferior gets down on the ground, takes a little earth in the fingers of his right hand, rubs it on his own body, and then claps his hands in homage and the greeting of friendship. It is a token of veneration, of homage, of extreme gratitude for some favor received. It is also a recognition of kingship, lordship, and a prostrating of oneself in its presence. Yet it simply is the applicative form of ‘to rub something on oneself’, this form of the verb giving the value of ‘because of.’ Thus in God’s presence as king and Lord we metaphorically rub dirt on ourselves, thus acknowledging Him for what He really is and what He has done for us.”) (Source: D. B. Long in The Bible Translator 1952, p. 87ff. )
In Luang it is translated with different shades of meaning:
For Mark 15:19 and Matt. 2:8 and 2:11: “uh’idma-rrama llia’ara” — “to kiss the fingernail and lick the heel”
For Acts 16:14: ra’uli-rawedi — “to praise-talk about”
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 1:20:
Kupsabiny: “When Job heard those words, he got up right away and tore his robe. Then he shaved his hair and threw himself down with the face to the ground” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Hearing all that news, Job stood up, tore his upper garment, and cut his hair. Lying prostrate on the ground he worshiped,” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “When- Job -heard those, he stood and tore his clothes in sadness. Then he had- his head -shaved and fell-face-down on the ground to worshiped the LORD.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Job stood up, and tore his robe and shaved his head because he was very sad/grieved. Then he prostrated himself on the ground to worship God.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Then Job arose, and rent his robe: Job had been seated (like Eli in 1 Sam 4.13) as he listened to the reports of the messengers. Now he “stood up and tore his clothes in grief” (Good News Translation). David reacts to the sad news of the death of his son by standing up and tearing his clothes (2 Sam 13.31). In some languages the transition Then suggested by Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation may have to be recast as a clause; for example, “When Job had finished hearing the messengers” or “Job listened to the last messenger and then….”
Tearing the clothing was the custom used to display grief (Gen 37.34; Josh 7.6; 1 Sam 1.11; 3.31; 13.31; Ezra 9.3, 5; Est 4.1). The robe which Job tore was the outer garment. Good News Translation makes clear the purpose of this gesture by adding “in grief”; so also Biblia Dios Habla Hoy. Translators should follow some such model as Good News Translation here. It is also possible to translate the meaning of the gesture only; for example, “Job stood up full of grief” or “Job got to his feet, his heart broken.” It is also possible, where there is a common local custom used to display grief, to translate the biblical custom in the text and to compare it to the local custom in a note; for example, “This is equivalent to the practice of painting the face to show that one is in mourning.”
Shaved his head: shaving the head and beard were likewise signs of mourning (see Isa 22.12; Jer 7.29; 16.6; 41.5; Ezek 7.18; Amos 8.10). These mourning rites, which were commonly practiced in Middle Eastern cultures, were forbidden in the Law of Moses (Lev 19.27-28; Deut 14.1). It will be important in some languages to link the shaving of the head with the tearing of the robe as part of the same expression of sorrow. For example, “Job stood up (from sitting). He tore his clothes, then shaved his head to show how much he grieved for his children.”
Fell upon the ground, and worshiped translates the Hebrew “fell on the ground and bowed down.” The second verb is the same one used of Abraham, who in Genesis 23.7 bowed before the Hittites; see also Exodus 17.7; 1 Kings 2.19. The act involved lying or kneeling, and touching the forehead on the ground, very much as in Muslim prayer position. Bowing to the ground was not a gesture of despair but of reverence (2 Sam 1.2; 9.6; 14.4). Job humbly bows in submission to Yahweh. Good News Translation “threw himself face downward on the ground” fails to express this attitude of reverence. Revised Standard Version, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible use some form of worship. Better is “he knelt down on the ground to honor God” or “Job bowed himself to the ground in prayer to God.”
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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