loins girded

The Hebrew that is translated as “loins girded” or similar in English is translated in Newari as “with your jani tied on.” The jani or patuka is the traditional Nepali clothes belt waist worn around the waist. (Source: Newari Back Translation)

See also cloak / shirt.

complete verse (Job 40:7)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 40:7:

  • Kupsabiny: “He said,
    ‘Stand up like a man/warrior,
    and respond to the words that I am going to ask you.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Tie up your jani like a man,
    I will ask you, you answer me! ” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “‘Prepare yourself, and answer my questions.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)

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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also pronoun for “God”.

Translation commentary on Job 40:6 - 40:7

These two verses are almost identical to 38.1-3. See there for comments. These verses introduce the second divine speech, which continues without interruption to 41.34, to which Job makes a final response (42.1-6).

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 .