In 1.10 Satan claimed that God put a hedge of protection around Job and all he possessed. Now Job objects that God has imprisoned him with a hedge that prevents him from finding any hope in life. He expresses this thought first by asking Why is light given to a man whose way is hid? In Hebrew Why is light given is left implicit, but the question is supplied in Revised Standard Version and others from verse 20a. The translator may, like Revised Standard Version, supply the question from verse 20 or, like Good News Translation, avoid the question form and make a statement. Light here as in verse 20 refers to the “light of life,” that is, physical life. Job clearly implies that God is the one who hides a man’s way. Accordingly Good News Translation supplies God as the subject and shifts from a question to a statement: “God keeps their future hidden.” The word translated way in Revised Standard Version refers in wisdom literature to a person’s conduct or personal destiny (so Habel). Many modern versions retain the idea of way, often through the use of a verb phrase; for example, Bible en français courant has “a man who does not know where he is going.” The sense of being ignorant of where one is headed may be expressed as “God makes them go along blindly” or “God keeps them from seeing where they are going.”

Whom God has hedged in: Job again mentions God by the same name as in 3.4. The object of the verb hedge is singular; however, Good News Translation, which uses the impersonal “their” in the first line, must also use the plural in the second “hems them in.” In this verse Job finally comes to the point of declaring God to be his adversary, the one who is causing him to suffer and despair. For translation comments see 1.10.

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 .