Behold, he finds occasions against me continues what Elihu considers a quotation from Job. This line reflects the kind of complaint Job makes against God in 10.13-17, but there is no passage which it closely resembles. Behold is used now by Elihu even when quoting Job. It may serve the purpose here of connecting verse 10 to verse 9 with an element of surprise, which in English, if it is translated at all, can be “Look here” or “Listen to this.” He should often be rendered “God,” since God has not been mentioned since verse 9. The word translated occasions is found elsewhere only in Numbers 14.34, where Revised Standard Version translates “displeasure.” Dhorme, Habel, and Pope propose a change to get “pretext.” However, both ideas may be contained within the meaning range of the Hebrew word, and so that change is unnecessary. Finds occasions against me is incomplete and needs an explicit purpose; for example, as Good News Translation says, “God finds excuses for attacking me” or “God looks for opportunities to make me suffer.”

He counts me as his enemy nearly repeats 19.11, “and counts me as his adversary.” Counts means “considers, regards, looks upon.” Good News Translation has “treats me like an enemy?”

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 .