UTN uW Translation Notes:

Job 29 General Notes

Structure and Formatting

This chapter is a continuation of Job’s final response to his three friends. In this chapter, Job recalls the honor he enjoyed and the influence he exercised within his community before he suffered so many misfortunes.The ULT sets the lines of this chapter farther to the right on the page than the rest of the text because it is poetry.

Translation Issues in This Chapter

Litany

In verses 2–6, Job makes a series of statements about what his life was like before his present troubles. He expresses a wish in verse 2 that his life could be like this again, and in verses 3–6 he offers a series of descriptions that each begin with “when” or “as that.” A series of statements such as this is known as a litany. If your readers would recognize what Job is doing, you can translate and format this litany the way the ULT does. If the litany form would not be familiar to your readers, you could help them appreciate it by putting each sentence of the litany on a separate line. See what you did with the similar litany in chapter 12. If it would be helpful to your readers, you could make each verse in the litany a separate sentence. For example, you could begin verse 3, “At that time.”

Translation Issues in This Chapter

Reference of “they” in verses 21–25

Job uses “they” in verses 21–25 as an indefinite pronoun that does not have a specific referent in the immediate context. If it would be helpful to your readers, you could specify a general referent such as “people” at regular intervals for clarity. Notes suggest how you might do that at various places.