Satan goes on to complain in a second rhetorical question that he cannot carry out any action against Job because Yahweh has put a hedge about him and his house and all that he has. Hedges are used to mark boundaries between owners’ properties. Thorn hedges are also used to keep intruders out. Good News Translation has rendered Satan’s question as a statement and shifts from “put a hedge” to the purpose, “you have always protected him….” Other translations use different solutions; Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch avoids the metaphor and says “you have kept him from harm”; Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “you don’t allow anyone to touch him.” New Jerusalem Bible replaces the hedge metaphor with “have you not put a wall around him?” Bible en français courant, like Good News Translation, states the purpose and adds a simile, “you protect him all around like in an enclosure.” In many language areas hedges are used for protection, particularly to keep animals out of cultivated plots. Where hedges are not known and used, it will be best to follow the kinds of adjustments suggested by the various modern translations cited above.
This is Satan’s second rhetorical question, and its force is to complain that God protects Job. In some languages the rhetorical question will not accomplish this purpose, and the translator must use a statement or other form; for example, in English one may say “The trouble is that you protect him,” “I object that you protect him,” or “I can do nothing because you take care of him.”
His house is the Hebrew form which here means “his family” (so Good News Translation, New English Bible, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). From the context of the story, this must be taken in the sense of Job’s immediate family, his wife and children, although in the end his brothers and sisters come to celebrate his happy recovery.
And all that he has refers to all of Job’s vast possessions; Good News Translation “everything he owns.” The final phrase on every side goes with the initial part of the question “Have you not put a hedge all around him?”
Blessed the work of his hands expands Satan’s first question to a comment similar to the question; that is, Job worships God because God richly rewards him. The verb translated blessed is in the perfect tense in Hebrew, denoting past action continuing into the present. “Bless” refers to God’s giving his favor to someone; such blessings give the receiver happiness and prosperity. Most modern translations keep the word “bless” here (see Good News Translation). However, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch is better with “you allow him to succeed in everything he undertakes,” and Bible en français courant has “you have certainly supported him in his endeavors.” In some languages it may be necessary to say “you have made him rich in everything he does” or “no matter what he does, you cause him to be rich.”
The work of his hands is not limited to certain activities done with the hands, but is an idiomatic way of saying “everything he does or undertakes” (so Good News Translation, New English Bible, Bible en français courant, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, New Jerusalem Bible).
His possessions: the word translated possessions can refer to all of one’s wealth, but in Job it refers to his livestock. New Jerusalem Bible has “flocks,” which in English is appropriate for sheep but not for cattle, donkeys, and camels. New English Bible, Bible en français courant, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible use “herds.” Good News Translation, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch have the more restricted “cattle.” In languages in which herds of animals are unknown, it may be necessary to say, for example, “all of his animals” or, in case this might suggest wild animals, “all the animals he takes care of.”
Increased in the land translates a verb which literally means “break out” and is used of Jacob’s sudden increase of wealth in Genesis 30.30 (“increased abundantly”); see also Genesis 38.29; Micah 2.13 (“breach”). Here it means that Job’s wealth is practically limitless, or as New English Bible says, “beyond measure.” Good News Translation “enough to fill the whole country” expresses the idea idiomatically and well. This expression serves as the result of Yahweh’s having blessed the work of his hands. In Revised Standard Version the two statements appear to be coordinate. In some languages it will be preferable to place the result before the reason; for example, “He has animals throughout the country because you have made him rich in everything he does.”
Quoted with permission from Reyburn, Wiliam. A Handbook on Job. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .