The Work of Translation

Edward L. Greenstein, who has recently published a most accomplished translation of the biblical book of Job, gives an indication of the extent of the labor required to produce such a translation: “I have been deeply engaged by the challenges of the book of Job—its themes, literary affiliations, language, and poetics—for over four decades” (xvii). That Greenstein has more than endured what he rightly characterizes as “this intimate endeavor” (xvii), including especially “the painstaking work of original philological investigation” (xviii), demonstrates that he is not only a long-suffering “scholar of difficult language” but indeed a “lover of words,” and of the work of words (ix). Further proof of his love lies in the stated altruism of his goals (xvii). He has aimed “to make good sense of the text of Job” and “to convey something of the text’s poetics” (x, xxxvi). That is, he has tried to recreate in English something of the theological and literary genius of the ancient Joban writers, better than others have done previously. And fellow students of Job and lovers of words, including the present author, owe a debt of gratitude to Greenstein for his labor of love and this work of translation. For, true to his goals, the still enigmatic biblical book begins to make (stunning) good sense and, here and there, lays bare more of its (sinuous) literary genius in Greenstein’s new translation.1