you put my feet in the stocks (Job 13:27)

The Hebrew in Job 13:27 that typically is translated as “you put my feet in the stocks” or similar in English is translated in the English translation by E.L. Greenstein (2019) as “and mark my feet with lime.” Greenstein (p. 59) explains: “Reading be-sid for ba-sad ‘in stocks,’ which makes no sense: fettered feet cannot go anywhere, so they cannot be followed. Job develops the same point in 14:16.”

See also stocks.

complete verse (Job 13:27)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 13:27:

  • Kupsabiny: “You have blocked me severely (to catch me),
    so you can see everywhere I have gone.
    You are checking even where I have put my feet.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “[You] put my feet in the stocks,
    you tested all my ways.
    You put the sign of a slave on the soles of my feet.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “It seems like you (sing.) chain my feet. You (sing.) watch my every step, and you (sing.) follow the mark(s) of my feet.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “They are so fat that they are unable to fight.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Honorary "are" construct denoting God (“carve/engrave”)

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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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, kizam-are-ru (刻まれる) or “carve/engrave” is used.

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

Translation commentary on Job 13:27

Thou puttest my feet in the stocks: here Job pictures himself as God’s prisoner, with his movements severely restricted. Stocks translates a word found only here and in 33.11. (See also Acts 16.24.) The term refers to a wooden block in which a prisoner’s feet were locked, but according to line b there may have been some possibility of movement. Good News Translation translates “You bind chains on my feet.” This line may also be expressed, for example, “You tie my feet together” or “You tie my feet so I cannot walk.”

And watchest all my paths: this line pictures God as Job’s guard who will not let him get away. According to Dhorme the word translated paths refers more to the way one walks than to the place where one walks. The sense in his view, therefore, is “step,” and so Good News Translation “You watch every step I take.” This may also be expressed, for example, “You keep guard on my every movement,” “You keep your eye on me all the time,” or “You never take your eyes off me.” In 7.20 Job called God a “Watcher of men.”

Thou settest a bound to the soles of my feet: this line is rendered in a variety of ways. The problem is the relation of settest a bound to soles of my feet. The word translated soles usually means “roots” and in the context refers to the part of the foot that “touches the ground.” Settest a bound translates a verb meaning “engrave, carve out.” Some understand the meaning then to be that God engraves a mark on the soles of the feet, perhaps to track down the prisoner who might escape. Others take it to mean that God marks a line around Job’s feet, draws a circle, and does not allow him to move out of it. Still further, Dhorme understands the word to mean “examine,” and this is followed by Good News Translation and others, and is a recommended model for translators. The line may also be expressed, for example, “You examine the ground my feet have touched,” “You inspect my footprints,” or “You study the footprints I make in the dust.”

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 .