The Language of the Book of Job and the Challenges in Translating It
Job - James E. Harding
Edward L. Greenstein [+]
Bar-Ilan University
Description
The language of the book of Job is especially difficult for a host of reasons. The poet uses archaic language and spelling to set the story in a much earlier era, that of Israel’s patriarchs and matriarchs. The poet uses foreign language and invented vocabulary to enhance the poetics of the discourse. The speakers are meant to be Easterners, and the poet colors their language with eastern features. The poet works in metaphors and images that are not always clear. The poet thinks out of the box so that conventional meanings must be set aside in favor of idiosyncratic ones. The poet’s language often relies on allusions to earlier Hebrew texts and to motifs that were current in the ancient Near Eastern world. Without recognizing those allusions and familiarity with those motifs, one may fail to grasp an expression or argument. All these features of the language of Job challenge the reader and, even more so, the translator, who cannot convey all these features. Illustrations of the features and their challenges are presented in this essay.