forget

The Hebrew, Latin, and Greek that is translated as “forget” in English is translated in Noongar as dwangka-anbangbat, lit. “ear-lose.” (Source: Portions of the Holy Bible in the Nyunga language of Australia, 2018).

See also remember and forget (Japanese honorifics).

worm / maggot

In English, “worm” is a fairly general word, while “grub” refers to worms and insect larvae that eat fruit and some vegetables such as beans. “Maggot” refers to the worm-like larvae flies and beetles, which feed on decaying meat or flesh. The Hebrew words tole‘ah and tola‘ath are fairly general terms for worms of all kinds, regardless of what the worms eat.

In Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers there occurs the phrase tola‘ath shani, literally “worm of scarlet”. The Hebrew name indicates both a scarlet color and the dye producing this color. The dye is made from the kermes insect Coccus ilicis, which was found in the Ararat region. The dye was traded by the Phoenicians, who carried it to the Middle East, North Africa, southern Europe, Mesopotamia, and even further.

Unlike the more general words tole‘ah and tola‘ath, rimah and its Greek equivalent skōlēx refer exclusively in the Bible to flesh-eating worms, in other words, maggots. The use of “worm” and “vermin” in modern English versions is motivated by the fact that to say that one’s own body is covered with maggots is repulsive and impolite in English culture. It may not be in other cultures.

Worms, grubs, and maggots are small, soft, legless, tube-shaped creatures that have no bones or shells. They typically feed on overripe fruit, rotting meat, and similar things. Most are actually larvae that hatch from the eggs laid by flies or some beetles. Most of them mature into pupae and then into adult forms of the parent insects.

In the Bible worms and maggots are symbols of uncleanness, decay and insignificance. In Psalms 22:6 and Isaiah 41:14 the word tola‘ath signifies a very insignificant human being or even nation. Where comparing a person with a worm or maggot will not convey the same meaning, it may be possible to find some other insect which symbolizes insignificance. Where no such comparison exists, it will be necessary to follow something like “weak and helpless as a worm.”

Maggots were a symbol of uncleanness, decay, and death. In Job 25:6 the maggot is symbolic of a repulsive, insignificant person.

Worms and maggots are found universally, and finding equivalents should not be too hard. However, in many languages there are specific words for different kinds of worms or maggots, but no generic word that includes them all. In such cases the individual contexts should guide the translator. When the reference is to worms destroying grapes or olives, a suitable word for such a context should be found; when the reference is to maggots that feed on corpses, a suitable word for these contexts should be used. It is more important to translate appropriately for a given context than it is to translate one Hebrew or Greek word the same way every time.

The use of a word for a flesh-eating worm or maggot is appropriate for all contexts.

Source: All Creatures Great and Small: Living things in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)

complete verse (Job 24:20)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 24:20:

  • Kupsabiny: “Even their mother forgets (them)
    and worms shall eat (them).
    (They) shall get out of/disappear from the minds/heads of people
    and disperse/go to pieces like a rotten and dry tree.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Their mothers will forget them,
    worms will eat them,
    wicked people will not be remembered,
    but they will be broken like a tree.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “They will- no-longer -be-remembered but they will-be-forgotten even by their mothers. They will-be-destroyed like a tree that was cut-down, and they will-be-eaten by worms.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Job 24:20

The pattern of this verse is unusual. Instead of the usual two lines of equal length, which are normal in Job, the first half of the Hebrew text has three sentences of two words each. The second half consists of a line of the normal length. The clue to the pattern of parallelism in the first half of the verse consists of the balancing of forget and no longer remembered. But this leaves the middle section of the first part disconnected from the other two. So in order to make two lines of average length in the first half of the verse, in place of the three short lines, Revised Standard Version distributes the three lines into two.

The squares of the town forget them: the Revised Standard Version footnote indicates that the Hebrew is obscure. The Hebrew has “the womb forgets him,” and Revised Standard Version has changed the word for “womb” and the following word to get The squares of the town, meaning “the centers of the towns.” This change does not seem necessary. Dhorme keeps the Hebrew and translates “The womb which has formed him forgets him,” which Good News Translation translates more naturally as “Not even his mother remembers him now.” Hebrew Old Testament Text Project supports this. In some languages it will be more meaningful to express “mother” as “the one who gave birth to him.”

Their name is no longer remembered is literally “the worm sucks on him and he is not remembered.” Aside from Exodus 16.24 and Job 25.6, the word rendered “worm” in Hebrew is always used with dead or decaying bodies, so Good News Translation has “he is eaten by worms…,” the reason being that he is dead. Their name is a change based on the word for “worm” and is preferred by Dhorme. Revised Standard Version has made one line of what can also be read as two lines in the Hebrew. Good News Translation does not repeat no longer remembered. This line may be translated without any change, as suggested by Good News Translation and others; for example, “worms eat his corpse” or “his dead body is eaten by worms (maggots).”

So wickedness is broken like a tree: this line is a summary statement of the preceding thoughts. Revised Standard Version makes no textual changes. Good News Translation takes wickedness to be the same subject as in the two preceding lines. Broken like a tree is at best a vague simile; only certain kinds of trees can be described as broken. Therefore Good News Translation translates more meaningfully “destroyed like a fallen tree.” This line may also be expressed “he is destroyed like a tree that is cut down,” or “like a tree he is cut down,” or “they destroy him in the same way as they cut down a tree and destroy it.”

In Revised Standard Version verse 20 concludes Job’s quoting the friends. Verses 21-25 in Revised Standard Version are Job’s own words.

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 .

In Job 24:20 the Masoretic Text is very obscure and difficult to understand. It contains a reference to rimah. Revised Standard Version supports a correction of the Hebrew text, changing rimah “maggot” to shemo “his name”. However, many commentators and most modern English versions interpret the verse without making this change and have wording similar to:

The womb [that is, his mother] forgets him,
And worms feast on him [or, suck him dry].
Thus are evil men forgotten,
like broken trees.

Source: All Creatures Great and Small: Living things in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)