They grope in the dark without light: the verb translated grope is used also in 5.14. Grope means to feel with the hands in the dark so as not to fall. In the dark without light translates the Hebrew “darkness and not light” and refers to a complete and total darkness where there is no sign of light. The line may be rendered, for example, “These rulers feel about like blind men in the dark,” “They put out their hands to feel their way in the darkness,” or “They do not know where they are going in the darkness.”

And he makes them stagger like a drunken man: stagger is the same verb used to translate “makes them wander” in verse 24. It may be clearer in translation to rearrange and transpose the two lines of verse 25; for example, “Like drunkards they stumble and grope about in the darkness” or “They stagger about like drunk men as they feel their way through the darkness.”

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 .