Though I am innocent, I cannot answer him: innocent translates the Hebrew tsadaq “to be righteous,” which also occurs in 4.17; 9.2, 20; 10.15; 15.14; 22.3; 34.5; 35.7; here it means innocent of wrongdoing, and therefore to be in the right in a lawsuit. (See also the language of a lawsuit in 11.2; 13.18; 40.8.) I cannot answer him is rendered by some of the ancient versions as a passive, “I am not answered.” In verse 3 it was said that God does not answer his opponents, and here the passive seems to fit this context. But in verse 16 there is the possibility of God replying. Job does not doubt his innocence of wrongdoing, and therefore Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation are to be preferred over New International Version “Though I were innocent.” I cannot answer him: answer in the sense of defending oneself against charges is used in verses 14, 15, and 16. Job’s failure to answer his accuser is not because he has no defense, but rather because God will not listen to anything Job says.

I must appeal for mercy to my accuser: since Job has no possibility of answering or defending himself before God, he has no recourse but to throw himself on God’s mercy. Translations differ in their rendering of the term translated accuser by Revised Standard Version. Good News Translation and others have “judge.” It is evident that Job’s opponent is also the one who judges him, and “judge” appears to render the term better in English than does “accuser,” which carries no special legal connotation. Appeal for mercy must often be restructured to say, for example, “ask God to be kind to me” or “beg the one who judges me to have mercy on me.”

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 .