Look away from him, and desist: the Revised Standard Version footnote shows the wording of the Hebrew text, “that he may desist.” The Good News Translation footnote refers to one Hebrew manuscript which has “leave him alone,” which is also the text of Good News Translation. Most Hebrew manuscripts have the same verb, but with one additional letter, which Good News Translation translates in a footnote “so that he may rest.” In effect there is no great difference translationally between the meanings of the two forms of the Hebrew text, since if God leaves a person alone, the result would be that such a person would relax and be free from worry. If verse 5 has been translated as a series of conditions, then verse 6 should be rendered as their consequence; for example, “Therefore leave him alone,” “Consequently don’t bother him,” or “So let him be.”

That he may enjoy, like a hireling, his day: in 7.1 Job spoke of the hard days of work of the hireling, a workman who is paid at the end of his day’s work. The hireling has only the short evening after his labor to enjoy himself. At that time he can take pleasure from what he has earned and from his rest. Enjoy … his day is understood in various ways by interpreters. It is doubtful whether the Hebrew verb can mean “enjoy” in the Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation sense. If it is to be taken as in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation, it will have to be understood as irony. Good News Translation attempts to bring out this irony by adding “if he can.” New English Bible represents another view, where the word translated enjoy means “count, pay off”: “counting the hours day by day like a hired labourer.” This interpretation may be the basis for New International Version “till he has put in his time like a hired man.” Dhorme takes day to refer to “his day’s work,” and so translates “Until, like a hireling, he finishes his day’s work!” This sense seems better than imposing a tone of irony on the verse. Bible en français courant translates “In order that he may finish his day’s labor in peace,” which provides translators with a good translation model. This line may also be rendered, for example, “so he can end the day and not worry” or “and in this way he can rest at the end of his day’s work.”

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 .