complete verse (Job 2:13)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 2:13:

  • Kupsabiny: “After that, they sat down together with Job the whole day and until morning for seven days. Not one of those people spoke even a single word to Job, because the suffering that he was going through was so big.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “For seven days and nights they were sitting on the ground with him. No one even spoke a word, for they saw how great the grief was that Job was experiencing.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Then they sat on the ground with Job for a period/[lit. inside] of seven days and seven nights. They never spoke to him because they saw how great his suffering was.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Then they sat on the ground with Job for seven days. None of them said anything to Job, because they saw that he was suffering greatly, and they did not think that anything that they said would lessen his pain.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Job 2:13

And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights: Good News Translation translates the connecting word with “Then,” which makes a more logical transition from the expressions of mourning to their sitting silently with Job. Seven days and seven nights is the period of mourning for the dead in Genesis 50.10; 1 Samuel 31.13. Ezekiel sat “overwhelmed” for seven days with the exiles of Tel Abib (Ezek 3.15).

In translation in some languages it may be necessary to shift the reason clause ahead of the result clause; for example, “Because they saw how much Job was suffering, they sat with him on the ground for seven days and nights without saying a word” or “They sat with Job on the ground for seven days and nights; because they knew how much he was suffering, they did not say a word.”

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 .