A translation can be inspired by God. There are examples all throughout scripture. The following is an example. From Genesis 42-45 Joseph spoke Egyptian to his brethren, yet, the scripture contains the translation of that conversation into Hebrew. In these verses, the bold represents the words of Joseph that were originally spoken in Egyptian but were translated into Hebrew and that translation into Hebrew was inspired by God.
Genesis 42
7 And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly unto them; and he said unto them, Whence come ye? And they said, From the land of Canaan to buy food.
8 And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him.
9 And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said unto them, Ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land ye are come.
10 And they said unto him, Nay, my lord, but to buy food are thy servants come.
11 We are all one man's sons; we are true men, thy servants are no spies.
12 And he said unto them, Nay, but to see the nakedness of the land ye are come.
13 And they said, Thy servants are twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and, behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is not.
14 And Joseph said unto them, That is it that I spake unto you, saying, Ye are spies:
15 Hereby ye shall be proved: By the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither.
16 Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and ye shall be kept in prison, that your words may be proved, whether there be any truth in you: or else by the life of Pharaoh surely ye are spies.
17 And he put them all together into ward three days.
18 And Joseph said unto them the third day, This do, and live; for I fear God:
19 If ye be true men, let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison: go ye, carry corn for the famine of your houses:
20 But bring your youngest brother unto me; so shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die. And they did so.
21 And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.
22 And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? therefore, behold, also his blood is required.
23 And they knew not that Joseph understood them; for he spake unto them by an interpreter.
John, I understand what you are saying. I view such instances from a different perspective. I see non-canonical writings quoted in the inspired Scriptures and given the inspired seal of truth, but I do not gather from that, that the non-canonical writing is inspired by the Holy Spirit, for instance:
"One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith;" (Titus 1:12-13, KJV)
Paul certainly did not mean to say that Epimenides the poet considered by the Cretians a prophet, was himself inspired by the Holy Spirit. But Paul by inspiration did state that what Epimenides wrote was true.
A translation by man, even the LXX is not inspired as can be seen in Isaiah 7:14. The verse, literally, word for word, by Formal Equivalence translation can be correctly rendered:
"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a young woman shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Imman′u-el." (Isa 7:14, RSV)
The Hebrew for "young woman" is in Strong's Dictionary defined: "‛almâh, al-maw', Feminine of H5958; a lass (as veiled or private)" and in the KJV is found 7 times: twice as 'maid', twice as 'virgin', twice as 'virgins' and once as 'damsels'.
The Septuagint renders the verse in a Dynamic Equivalence style translation as:
"Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; behold, a virgin shall conceive in the womb, and shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Emmanuel." (Isa 7:14, LXXE)
Matthew quotes from the Septuagint and gives approval of the LXX Dynamic Equivalence translation accuracy:
"Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; behold, a virgin shall conceive in the womb, and shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Emmanuel." (Isa 7:14, LXXE)
I do not understand Matthew to be saying the LXX is inspired by the Holy Spirit, but the LXX gives the true meaning of the Hebrew. There are times the LXX errs as compared with the KJV translation of the Hebrew:
"And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and
they shall look upon me[Yahweh] whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn." (Zech 12:10, KJV)
"And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and compassion: and they shall look upon me, because they have mocked me, and they shall make lamentation for him, as for a beloved friend, and they shall grieve intensely, as for a firstborn son." (Zech 12:10, LXXE)
Don't get me wrong, for modern translations I do use the RSV, NRSV, NEB and REB; but the KJV, along with the RV, is my primary study Bible and the more I study, the higher my view of the scholarship and integrity of the KJV translators and I prefer it in many passages.