My friends scorn me is literally “My scorners are my friends.” The word translated friends is used in reference to Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar in 2.11; 32.5; 42.10. The word translated scorn has the meaning “mediator” in 33.23; Isaiah 43.27, and “interpreter” in Genesis 42.23. However, the usual meaning of the word is “scorn, ridicule, deride, mock,” and it occurs with that meaning in Proverbs 3.34; Hosea 7.5; Psalm 119.51.

My eye pours out tears to God: although the singular is used in Hebrew, the reference is to “the eyes,” as in Good News Translation. Here Job says that he cries constantly. This line may need to be expressed differently in some languages to say, for example, “I look to God with tears in my eyes,” “my eyes fill with tears as I plead for God’s help,” or “I cry to God to help 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 .