complete verse (Job 39:28)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 39:28:

  • Kupsabiny: “It builds its house high on tall cliffs/rocks,
    and it defends itself on sharp ends of cliffs/rocks.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “It lives in the rocks of the mountain.
    It stays there at night.
    a rocky crag is its fortress.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “The eagle lives there on the cliff; the high rocks is his place-of-hiding.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Job 39:28

Verse 28 carries verse 27 forward by making more graphic the eagle’s habit of building its nest among the highest rocks in the mountains.

On the rock he dwells and makes his home: this line is exceptional, since it has two verbs of the same meaning translated as dwells and makes his home, while the next line has no verb but picks up the word translated as rock and elaborates it. Rock in line a refers to the rocks in the highest mountains, as line b shows. Good News Translation has reduced the redundancy of the two verbs in this line to “makes its home.”

In the fastness of the rocky crag: fastness or Good News Translation “fortress” translates a term rendered “stronghold” in 1 Samuel 22.4; 24.22, referring to a place of safety in the remote mountains, where a person is secure from enemies. Rocky crag is literally “tooth of the rock” and is used also in 1 Samuel 14.4. The word refers to jagged rock formations that stand at the top of steep cliffs. Good News Translation has supplied a verb for this line which gives a better parallel arrangement of the lines. In the language areas referred to in verse 27, verse 28 may again require some adjustments; for example, “It builds its nest on the highest rocks, and there it has a place where it is safe.”

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 .