In the thought of one who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune: the Hebrew of verse 5 is far from clear, and numerous changes have been proposed but little agreement reached. The first word in Hebrew is a prepositional prefix and noun translated for misfortune by Revised Standard Version. The word also has the meaning “lamp, torch, flame,” and the Vulgate and others translate “lamp.” This usage does not, however, fit the context here. The word translated thought in Revised Standard Version is found nowhere else in the Old Testament, and so its meaning is not certain. However, taken with the word that follows it, the sense seems to be “in the mind of those who have no troubles….” Job sees that the beliefs of his friends enable the prosperous and comfortable to look down on the unfortunate. Moreover they withhold their sympathy, believing that such people as Job have brought on their own troubles. Revised Standard Version makes a general statement, whereas Good News Translation relates it to Job: “You have no troubles, and yet you make fun of me.” Translators may do the same or follow Revised Standard Version. If kept general, we may translate, for example, “People who have no troubles despise those who suffer misfortune” or “Those who are always at ease make fun of those who have troubles.”

It is ready for those whose feet slip: Revised Standard Version supplies it is and makes it refer back to misfortune in line a. In this interpretation misfortune is ready and waiting for those whose feet slip, meaning “for someone who is about to fall, to have troubles, to suffer.” Good News Translation again makes the line applicable to Job’s friends, and not to someone in general. “Hit” in Good News Translation translates the same word rendered ready by Revised Standard Version; this is supported by Dhorme and many other commentators and is recommended to translators as making the best sense. Those whose feet slip means “people who are stumbling, falling, staggering.” It is a figure of speech depicting people who are suffering, who are miserable. If the translator follows Revised Standard Version, it may be best to make misfortune the subject of this line, “misfortune is ready….” However, in some languages misfortune cannot serve as a subject in this kind of construction. Therefore the expression must often be restructured to say, for example, “Misfortune always happens to people who are already suffering” or “People who are already suffering always have still more misfortune.” The better rendering, which is Good News Translation, may have to be restructured in some languages to say, for example, “You cause troubles for a person who is falling,” or “You make troubles for someone who is already suffering.”

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 .