Job

The Hebrew and Greek that is transliterated as “Job” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with a sign for “patience,” referring to James 5:11 and many other passages within the book of Job. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)


“Job” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España

In Swiss-German Sign Language it is translated with the sign for “suffering.”


“Job” in Swiss-German Sign Language, source: DSGS-Lexikon biblischer Begriffe , © CGG Schweiz

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Job .

complete verse (Job 33:1)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 33:1:

  • Kupsabiny: “So/therefore now, Job, please listen to my words
    and scrutinize everything I am saying.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Still, Job, please listen to my words,
    and please listen, paying attention to all the words that I speak.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “‘Now, Job, listen carefully to all that I will-say to you (sing.).” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Then Elihu continued:” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Job 33:1

But now, hear my speech, O Job: Elihu is now prepared to speak directly to Job. But suggests a contrast with the close of the preceding chapter, but it is rather a shift in topic and listener. “And now” expresses the linkage well in English. New Jerusalem Bible has “So, Job….” The fact that Elihu addresses Job by name does not mean that Elihu is a familiar friend or social equal of Job. It serves the purpose of keeping the focus of Elihu’s long speeches fixed on the principal character, who has now grown silent but must not fade in the reader’s mind. My speech refers to the arguments Elihu will put forward. O in O Job is an English vocative form sometimes use when calling to or addressing someone directly. The equivalent in many languages is the “you” pronoun or no special form at all.

And listen to all my words forms a chiasmus in Hebrew with line a; that is, the two lines are parallel in meaning, with the parallel elements coming in reverse order in line b. Good News Translation makes two lines but does not repeat the verbs: “And now, Job, listen carefully to all that I have to say.”

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 .