complete verse (Job 19:19)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 19:19:

  • Kupsabiny: “The stomach of my friends churn when they see me.
    Even those that I loved have turned away from me.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “All those friends who were on good terms with me dislike me intensely.
    And those I loved, have risen against me.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “All of my close friends detest me. The ones-whom- I -love turn-away from me.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “My dearest friends detest me,
    and those whom I love very much have turned against me.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Job 19:19

All my intimate friends abhor me: intimate friends is literally “all the men of my confidence.” These are Job’s most trusted friends or “closest friends” (Good News Translation), as expressed in Psalm 55.13-14. They are said to abhor Job, which is to be disgusted by him, to be repulsed by his condition. This line may be rendered, for example, “The dearest friends I had detest me,” “My closest friends hate me,” or in some languages, “The friends I shared my food with now hate me.”

And those whom I have loved have turned against me: these are the closest relatives and friends whom Job loved most of all. This verse is a summary of Job’s feeling of despair and neglect. Turned is the same verb used in 9.5 of God overturning mountains. Here it is followed by a preposition which gives it the sense of “abandon, desert, be unfaithful to.” In some languages line b may be rendered, for example, “the people I loved most turn their backs to me” or “the ones I loved most say ‘We don’t know him.’ ”

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 .