world (Chinese)

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “world” in English is translated in Mandarin Chinese with shìjiè (世界). While shìjiè is now the commonly used term for “world” in Chinese, it was popularized as such by Chinese Bible translations. (Source: Mak 2017, p. 241ff.)

See also world.

complete verse (Job 18:18)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 18:18:

  • Kupsabiny: “He is removed from the world of the living
    and thrown into the realm of the dead where darkness rules.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “He will be driven out from the light into the darkness,
    and will be removed from the world” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “He will-be-driven-out from this bright world going to the dark place of the dead-ones.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Job 18:18

He is thrust from light into darkness translates the impersonal “they push him….” It is not said who thrusts him. Some interpreters suggest changing the Hebrew to “He shall thrust him,” in which the subject is God and the object is the wicked person. Dhorme objects to making God the subject, on the basis that God has not been mentioned in the chapter. However, this is hardly reason enough. The subject is far more likely to be God than people, and in languages which do not use an impersonal subject or a passive construction, it will be best to say “God thrusts him out….” Light and darkness are here contrasting images of life and death. In 17.13 darkness is the symbol of Sheol.

And driven out of the world: the world here does not mean the physical earth, but the line speaks of being driven from the place where people live into Sheol, the place of the dead; that is, from the place of the living or “land of the living” (Good News Translation, New English Bible). In languages which do not use a passive, it will be necessary to adjust the line to say, for example, “God will drive him from life into the darkness of death” or “God will push him out from the living people and make him go to the dark land of the dead.”

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 .