Thou puttest my feet in the stocks: here Job pictures himself as God’s prisoner, with his movements severely restricted. Stocks translates a word found only here and in 33.11. (See also Acts 16.24.) The term refers to a wooden block in which a prisoner’s feet were locked, but according to line b there may have been some possibility of movement. Good News Translation translates “You bind chains on my feet.” This line may also be expressed, for example, “You tie my feet together” or “You tie my feet so I cannot walk.”

And watchest all my paths: this line pictures God as Job’s guard who will not let him get away. According to Dhorme the word translated paths refers more to the way one walks than to the place where one walks. The sense in his view, therefore, is “step,” and so Good News Translation “You watch every step I take.” This may also be expressed, for example, “You keep guard on my every movement,” “You keep your eye on me all the time,” or “You never take your eyes off me.” In 7.20 Job called God a “Watcher of men.”

Thou settest a bound to the soles of my feet: this line is rendered in a variety of ways. The problem is the relation of settest a bound to soles of my feet. The word translated soles usually means “roots” and in the context refers to the part of the foot that “touches the ground.” Settest a bound translates a verb meaning “engrave, carve out.” Some understand the meaning then to be that God engraves a mark on the soles of the feet, perhaps to track down the prisoner who might escape. Others take it to mean that God marks a line around Job’s feet, draws a circle, and does not allow him to move out of it. Still further, Dhorme understands the word to mean “examine,” and this is followed by Good News Translation and others, and is a recommended model for translators. The line may also be expressed, for example, “You examine the ground my feet have touched,” “You inspect my footprints,” or “You study the footprints I make in the dust.”

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 .