These three verses will be handled together, since each describes the effect of the wind.
The east wind lifts him up and he is gone: The east wind blows from the desert towards the Mediterranean Sea, bringing scorching heat. Here it is violent, like a tornado or whirlwind, in that it picks the man up and carries him away. In 15.2 Eliphaz asked if a wise man should fill himself with the east wind, using the same Hebrew term. See there for comments. Lifts him up implies for the purpose of taking him away, and so “picks him up and carries him off.” Good News Translation reduces the two lines to one.
It sweeps him out of his place: sweeps describes the action of the violent wind and is used in Psalm 58.9b. Out of his place is best taken here as meaning “out of his house” or “out of the place where he lives.” Sweeps may require adjusting in some languages to a nonfigure like “It blows him out of his house,” or to a different figure.
It hurls at him without pity: It refers to the east wind. Revised Standard Version notes that the Hebrew has “he,” which Revised Standard Version thinks refers to God, although God has not been mentioned since verse 13. Good News Translation also makes the east wind the subject. Hurls translates a verb meaning “to throw at.” There is no direct object expressed in this line nor in Numbers 35.20, where the same verb is used, but according to Dhorme, no object is required. Accordingly Bible en français courant, which makes God the subject, translates “Without having pity on them, God uses them as targets.” New Jerusalem Bible says “Piteously he is turned into a target.” If the east wind is the subject, then the verb “blows” is more appropriate than hurls: “It will blow down on them” (Good News Translation, which keeps the plural for the wicked). Without pity is literally “not sparing,” that is, “without holding anything back.” This line may be expressed “This wind blows at them with full force” or “… with all its might.”
He flees from its power in headlong flight: here the wicked man flees from what is literally “his (or, its) hand,” which Revised Standard Version translates its power, meaning “the force of the wind.” In headlong flight is used translationally by Revised Standard Version to bring out the force of the Hebrew construction, which serves to intensify the main verb. In a similar way Good News Translation “they try their best to escape” emphasizes the urgency of the wicked person’s flight. This line may also be rendered, for example, “he does all he can to run from its power” or “he tries hard to run away from this powerful wind.”
It claps its hands at him: Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation continue with “the wind” as the implied subject. The Hebrew has only the third person singular pronoun prefixed to the singular verb claps. An Revised Standard Version note indicates “he (that is God).” Moffatt understands it in this sense and translates “God openly derides him.” Bible de Jérusalem and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible translate with an impersonal subject, as does Bible en français courant: “One applauds on seeing them in this state.” New Jerusalem Bible has “His downfall is greeted with applause.” It seems most consistent with the context to keep “the wind” as the subject, even though the noun is not present in the Hebrew. Claps translates what is literally “beats his palms.” In Numbers 24.10 this gesture symbolizes anger: “And Balak’s anger was kindled against Balaam, and he struck his hands together….” In Lamentations 2.15 it is used to show “scorn, ridicule, derision.” The sense of scorn is to be taken here as it parallels the similar use of hisses in the next line. Neither Revised Standard Version nor Good News Translation gives the meaning of these two gestures. Good News Translation transposes the two lines, but “howls at them” is not made clear, and “frightening them” does not suggest scorn or ridicule. New International Version is to be preferred here, with “It claps its hands in derision.” In English “The wind howls scornfully at them” would be better. If the image of the wind clapping its hands in ridicule is not clear, it may be necessary to shift to a simile; for example, “The wind howls at them (him), like a person scorning them” or “The wind is like a person shouting ridicule at him.”
And hisses at him from its place: hisses is used in Jeremiah 49.17 and Zephaniah 2.15 to express ridicule, and so is parallel with claps in the previous line. In Lamentations 2.15 the people who pass by “clap their hands at you; they hiss and wag their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem.” From its place is understood variously by different interpreters. It may mean the place from which the wind hisses, as Revised Standard Version, or the place wherever the wicked person may be, so New English Bible “wherever he may be.” Good News Translation “as they run” seems to follow somewhat the second interpretation. In English verse 23 may be rendered “The wind howls scornfully at them, and laughs at them wherever they go.” In some languages it will be possible to make a parallel line in verse 23b by saying “and whistles at him wherever he goes” or “and whistles at him to scorn him wherever he may be.” In some languages to whistle at a person has a connotation which may be undesirable in this context. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy translates verse 23 as “The wind pursues him with loud noises and whistles.” Translators may be able to adapt from this model.
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 .