As for me, is my complaint against man?: this question implies that Job’s complaint is not with men but with God, and so assumes a negative reply. The Hebrew favors a question, as in Bible en français courant “Is it against a man that I myself complain? No!” Good News Translation translates this line as a negative statement: “My quarrel is not with mortal men.” Complaint is used in 10.1, where Good News Translation translates “complaint” and not “quarrel,” as it does here. This line may be rendered, for example, “I have no complaint against people,” “My quarrel is not with people,” or “Do I complain against people? Of course not.”

Why should I not be impatient? is literally “And why should not my ruach (‘spirit, breath’) be short?” The word which introduces the question has the meaning “and if that is so” or “and in that case.” Biblia Dios Habla Hoy translates “because of this,” and Bible en français courant “why therefore.” Shortness of ruach is a Hebrew idiom which means to be impatient. Translators may find it better to shift this line to a positive statement: “I have a right to be impatient.” In some languages impatient is expressed figuratively; for example, “I have good reason to have boiling insides” or “I am right to have hot kidneys.”

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 .