He makes nations great, and he destroys them: in Job’s view God makes some nations great, but without any moral principle. Nations rise and fall because he has the power to cause them to do so. Makes nations great translates the causative form of the verb “grow.” In 8.11 it is used to refer to the reeds that grow in the water. Each line has two contrasting verbs to depict how God causes a nation to be great and then causes it to become worthless. New Jerusalem Bible says in the first line “builds up … ruins,” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “grow … fade away.” This line may also be expressed, for example, “He makes nations to grow large and he makes them grow small” or “He makes tribes of people become powerful and then he makes them become weak.”

He enlarges nations, and leads them away: enlarges translates the Hebrew “spread out,” which New English Bible understands to mean “flatten” and so translates “He lays them low.” Nations refers to a group of people who have a common history and share a sense of belonging together. In many languages this kind of body is known as a tribe or ethnic group. In some languages it is possible to speak of “the people who follow one leader.” Nations is the same Hebrew word in both lines. Good News Translation makes both verbs in line a positive, “He makes nations strong and great,” and then uses two negative verbs in line b, “defeats and destroys them.” Aside from stylistic arrangement, Good News Translation agrees with the meaning in Revised Standard Version. Some take the first verb in line b to mean “scatter” (Biblia Dios Habla Hoy). Bible en français courant translates “expand,” a positive action paralleling “make great” in line a. The second verb in line b means “guide,” which would be a positive action, and so many interpreters supply “into captivity” to get a negative sense. Some change the vowels of the verb to get “abandons,” while others change one consonant and get “exterminates them.” It seems best to recommend the meaning suggested by Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. The stylistic arrangement will depend on the way the translator’s own language handles two lines in which contrasting actions are expressed. In translation it is important that it be made clear that God does both events, the positive one and the negative one. In order to make this clear in some languages, it may be necessary to say, for example, “God makes some nations great, and he also destroys those nations. He builds up some nations, and he ruins those same nations.”

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 .