And now I have become their song: this verse repeats the thought of verse 1. The ones who do this to Job are not the miserable fathers Job depicted in verses 2-8, but their children from verse 1. Bible en français courant makes this clear with “Now their children make up songs about me.” The word translated song here refers to the music of stringed instruments and is used in many psalm titles. In Psalm 69.12 it is used of drinking songs: “I am the talk of those who sit in the gate, and the drunkards make songs about me.” See also Lamentations 3.14, where it indicates mocking songs. In languages which do not use songs to ridicule someone, it may be necessary to say, for example, “But now their children make fun of me,” “They tell stories about me,” or “They makes jokes of me.”

I am a byword to them: byword translates a form of “word” used frequently in Job. Only here does the context give it the sense of “ridicule.” Good News Translation expresses the thought effectively with “I am nothing but a joke to them.”

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 .