In spite of Job’s concentration on the shortness of life and its comparison to aspects of nature, he cannot forget his concern with God’s unjust treatment of him. In this verse Job expresses surprise that God should examine anything as unimportant as a human being.

And dost thou open thy eyes upon such a one: open thy eyes upon means “pay attention to, take notice of, look at,” the same as was used in 7.8. Such a one translates the Hebrew “this person,” which Good News Translation renders “me.” The pronoun in the second line is “me” in the Hebrew text. Consequently if “me” is used in line b, it probably should also be used in line a. However, the Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate, Revised Standard Version, and others change to “him” in line b in order to match the previous verses. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommends following the Hebrew “me” in line b. This line may also be expressed, for example, “Do you bother to notice me, God?” or “Do you even notice that I am here, God?”

And bring him into judgment with thee: bring … into judgment means “take to court, bring a lawsuit against, take someone before the judge.” With thee refers to God as the one who judges, so that the line says “And take me to court to be judged by you” or “… for you to judge me.”

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 .