complete verse (Job 16:2)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 16:2:

  • Kupsabiny: “‘I have been hearing many words like those,
    so, those words of yours do not help people!” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “I have heard many words like that.
    You are all giving consolation that is full of pain. ” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “‘I have- already -heard that in the time-past. Instead that you (plur.) will-make- me -happy, you (plur.) even cause- me -to-become- more -sad.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “‘I have heard things like that before;
    all of you, instead of helping me, are only causing me to feel more miserable.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)

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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 formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).

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

Translation commentary on Job 16:2

I have heard many such things: the things Job refers to are the previous speeches of all three friends, not just the last speech of Eliphaz. In the next line he includes them all in his condemnation.

Miserable comforters are you all: miserable comforters is literally “comforters of trouble.” Job picks up from Eliphaz’s words in 15.35 “They conceive mischief,” where “mischief” translates the same word rendered miserable here. These are comforters who increase trouble instead of removing it. The same term is used in 3.10; 4.8. Job’s friends came expressly to comfort him, to relieve his suffering (2.11), but their ministry to Job is less than helpful. In some languages this line may be rendered, for example, “You (plural) do not relieve my sufferings; you (plural) make me miserable instead of helping me,” “You (plural) do not help me; you make me suffer still more,” or “Instead of making me feel better, you (plural) make me feel worse.”

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 .