complete verse (Job 32:15)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 32:15:

  • Kupsabiny: “Job, this matter has defeated these people
    so there was nothing they could say to you.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “O Job, your three friends’ hearts have failed them [lit.: fallen],
    you have given no answer, you have nothing to say. ” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Now you (plur.) are-astonished/stunned/[lit. not able to speak] and have nothing to answer.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Job 32:15

They are discomfited: They refers to the three friends. Discomfited translates a word meaning “dismayed, dumbfounded, speechless.” They have not a word to say repeats the thought of the first line. Good News Translation, which addresses these words to Job, reverses the lines for stylistic reasons. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy provides a good model: “Job, those three are confounded (speechless) and they do not know how to reply to you.” This verse may also be expressed “Job, your three friends have no more words for you; they are unable to say anything more to you.”

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 .