For what is the hope of the godless when God cuts him off…?: most translations understand this verse the same as Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation, namely, that there is no hope for the godless when they come to the end of life. Cuts … off translates a verb which has the meaning “to make illicit profit” and which is used in this way in some of the ancient versions and in Traduction œcuménique de la Bible. However, most modern translations use it as Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation in the sense of “God requires a person’s life,” that is, “brings his life to an end.” Dhorme, however, changes cuts him off to “he prays,” which is followed by Bible de Jérusalem and New Jerusalem Bible. Preferred is the meaning understood by Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation, “What hope does a godless person have when God takes away his life?” Good News Translation translates the godless as plural and maintains the plural through verse 10. When God takes away his life is almost the same in meaning to the previous line, and in those translations which cannot keep the parallelism, these two lines are sometimes reduced to one.

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 .