Reading the Old Testament in the light of the New

It is good to read the Old Testament on its own terms, but Christians can't help but read it also in the light of its fulfilment in Christ and in the light of the way the New Testament teaches us to read it.

The Gospel according to the Old Testament series aims to help us to do this and looks promising. It is written at a less academic level than some Bible expositions, and is often focussing on a character rather than on a Bible book.

So far I have only been reading Crying Out for Vindication on Job, but am thoroughly enjoying David Jackson's book, apart from my caveat above about singling out the NIV for condemnation unfairly.

NIV bashing

I've been reading David Jackson's Crying Out for Vindication, which is part of The Gospel According to the Old Testament series.

It is an interesting, insightful book which I warmly recommend, but I was sorry to see this statement on page 50, commenting on translating Job 3:24.

The New International Version gives us a tame and euphemistic translation of the words Job uses here. Roaring and bellowing would seem to be closer to the meaning of the text.

But most translations do seem to render verse 24 pretty similarly:

For sighing comes to me instead of food; my groans pour out like water. NIV
For my sighing cometh before I eat, And my groanings are poured out like water. American Standard Version
For my sighing comes as my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water.RSV
For my sighing comes like my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water.
NRSV
For my sighing comes instead of my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water.
ESV
For my sighing comes before I eat, And my groanings pour out like water. NKJV
For my sighing comes in place of my food, and my groanings flow forth like water. New English Translation [NET]
My only food is sighs, and my groans pour out like water. New Jerusalem Bible
I cannot eat for sighing; my groans pour out like water. New Living Translation, 2nd edition
When my food is in front of me, I sigh. I pour out my groaning like water. God's Word to the Nations

The only translations I can find which differ are the King James Version

For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters.

and the New American Standard Version

For my groaning comes at the sight of my food, And my cries pour out like water.

The translators of the NIV have many that agree with them and are certainly not standing out from the crowd in the way they rendered this verse [which they continued to do in the TNIV].

Jackson goes on to cite other places in Scripture where the words come out more forcefully in English and makes a fair case for a stronger rendering in Job 3.

Do you think there was a conspiracy between the translators, or do you think they had good reasons for not speaking of a man as roaring?

In drawing attention to this bit of NIV-bashing, I'm not aiming to make you wary of David Jackson or his book, because I think it is a valuable one which I hope you will read and ponder, but I'm merely commenting that it is worth checking whether a rendering in one version has also been adopted in others, and if so, allowing the translators some credit for their reasons for their decision.