Behold, all that he has is in your power: Yahweh does not pursue the conversation but abruptly hands the unknowing Job over to Satan’s scheme. Yahweh so completely trusts Job that he grants Satan a free hand to strike him down. In other words Yahweh is willing to bet everything that Job will remain faithful and Satan will be proved wrong. Behold, which is archaic in English, translates a Hebrew word which opens a sentence and directs attention to the idea to follow. Good News Translation has “All right,” and New International Version “Very well, then.” Power translates the word “hand.” The same hand is not to destroy Job’s person; only his possessions and family may be taken away. This concession must be restructured in some languages to say, for example, “I give you the power to destroy everything he owns” or “All right, you can take away all that he has.”
Only upon himself do not put forth your hand: Yahweh uses the same expression Satan employed in 11a. Here it is used as a restriction put on Satan’s power. Good News Translation and Biblia Dios Habla Hoy translate “you must not hurt Job himself.” “Hurt” would appear mild in terms of the manner in which Satan strikes Job, even his body. Other translations use some form of “touch” (New English Bible, Bible en français courant, Bible de Jérusalem, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). The reference is to taking away Job’s life. If this restriction had not applied, the drama would end, and neither Yahweh nor Satan would be proved right about Job. In languages in which a metaphor such as “touch” or “strike down” can be used with the meaning of “destroy,” there is no problem, but if not, then it is better to say, for example, “don’t take away his life” or “you must not kill him.”
Having been given permission to test Job, Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD. Good News Translation makes Satan’s exit short, and without pausing for details, “so Satan left,” from the presence of the LORD being implied. Other versions retain some form of “from the LORD’s presence” (Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Bible en français courant, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, New Jerusalem Bible); Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch says “from the council meeting.” Satan’s exit from the scene marks the close of the episode. Again note that the story teller gets Satan off the stage quickly and without a reply. Satan has neither agreed nor disagreed with Yahweh’s conditions. Thus silence is used to heighten the mystery of what is about to unfold on the unsuspecting Job. Translators must pay particular attention to this closing. In some languages this kind of closing is marked by various particles, or grammatical forms. In others an episode, even a short one like this, must not end without an explicit reference to the central theme; for example, “So the accuser left God’s place saying ‘I’ll go and test his servant’ ” or “When God finished speaking, Satan left. He went to test the faithful servant.” In such a case nothing outside the context is added.
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 .