And if I lift myself up, thou dost hunt me like a lion: the Hebrew text is literally “And he lifts himself.” Interpreters have tried different ways to identify the subject of the first verb. Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation understand that the verb should be in the first person and so follow the Syriac version. Lift myself up is understood by Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Good News Translation to refer to Job’s proud doings. New English Bible and Bible de Jérusalem translate “Proud as a lion.” Still other translations (Moffatt, Bible en français courant, New International Version) understand the first half of the line to mean “If I lift my head,” without making clear what such a gesture may mean, other than contrasting it with “when I lower my head” in the previous verse. It is not entirely clear from the text whether Job compares himself to a hunted lion, or compares God to a lion on the prowl. However, in view of 6.4, in which God’s arrows are shot into Job, it is probably best to assume that Job is here again the object of God’s hunting, and so now God is depicted as a prowling lion. Revised Standard Version‘s translation, as well as Good News Translation, “You hunt me down like a lion,” may mean either that God is a hunting lion, or that Job is the lion being hunted. It is best to avoid the ambiguity of Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation by translating as Bible en français courant does: “As soon as I lift up my head, you are there taking up the hunt against me, like a lion” (similarly Moffatt and New International Version). We may also translate, for example, “If I do anything to be proud of, you become like a lion and hunt me down to destroy me.”

And again work wonders against me: this statement adds irony to Job’s words and translates what is literally “and again you show yourself wonderful through me.” The wonderful works of God’s creation mentioned in verses 8-11 are now wonderful works of torment. Good News Translation is quite right in expressing the purpose in the translation “to hurt me.” This line may also be rendered, for example, “You even do amazing things just to harm me” or “You make miracles to cause me to suffer.”

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 .