complete verse (Job 21:19)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 21:19:

  • Kupsabiny: “You are saying,
    ‘God punishes children for the sin of their fathers.’
    No! God should punish the people themselves/only
    so that they know that surely God hates sins.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “You say, "God saves the punishment of a man for his sons and daughters."
    But God ought to give him [the man himself] the punishment, in this way he will know it.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “You (plur.) say that if they are not punished by God, their children are the ones- he -will-punish. But I say that the one-who-sinned is the one that God should punish, so-that they can experience” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “You say, ‘When people have committed sins,
    God waits and punishes their children because of those sins;’
    but I say that God should punish those who sin, not their children,
    in order that the sinners will know that it is because of their own sins that they are being punished.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Honorary "rare" construct denoting God (“concealing”)

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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 rare (られ) 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, himeteo-rare-ru (秘めておられる) or “concealing” is used.

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

Translation commentary on Job 21:19

You say, ‘God stores up their iniquity for their sons’: the words You say are not in Hebrew; they are supplied on the basis that Job is replying to an objection the friends may raise. The principle of children suffering for the sins of their parents is found in Exodus 20.5 and Deuteronomy 5.9. In 5.4 and 20.10 the friends spoke of the inheritance of suffering the wicked parent leaves for his children. Jeremiah (31.29ff.) and Ezekiel (18.2ff.) both reject the view that the sins of the parents cause their children to suffer. Compare also Matthew 27.25. Stores up translates the Hebrew literally, a word meaning “to keep something in reserve, to save up.” Iniquity means sin or wrongdoing. The Hebrew speaks of the wicked in the singular, “his (iniquity)” and “his (sons),” which Revised Standard Version has generalized correctly in English as “their (iniquity)” and “their (sons).” This line may be rendered “You say that God holds on to their sins and makes their children suffer because of them,” or “You believe that God punishes the children of these wicked people,” or “You believe that God is saving his punishment for these people’s children.”

Let him recompense it to themselves, that they may know it: the wording of Revised Standard Version is awkward and the meaning unclear. The Hebrew has only three words which translate literally “He repays him and he knows (it).” This line anticipates the friends’ objection and is explained further by verse 20. The form of the verb translated recompense means “punish, carry out reprisals,” and so means “Let him (God) punish him (the wicked person) himself.” Know it is to be understood in the sense of “learn from it, profit from it.” The final clause can be “so that they learn from it.” Good News Translation opens this line with “No!” as a strong objection to the teaching in the first line. Good News Translation then repeats “God punish” from line a and supplies the object “sinners.” A third line, which Good News Translation has created, is to make very certain that the punishment is for “their sins,” and “their” is placed in italics to emphasize that it is the sins of the wicked parent and not the sins of the children. Good News Translation has gone further than is necessary, and the two lines can be clearly translated “You claim God punishes a child for the sins of his father; instead let God punish the father so that he will benefit from it.”

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 .