As in 21.6, the thought Job has just expressed causes him to be afraid. Therefore I am terrified at his presence: in 22.10 Eliphaz introduced the argument that Job’s misery is the result of his criminal acts of oppressing the poor: “Therefore snares are round about you, and sudden terror overwhelms you.” According to Job in 13.14, God has put it in his mind to do these things to Job, and nothing else accounts for them. It is the mystery of God’s ways which frightens Job. His presence is literally “his face.” The thought of meeting God face to face strikes terror into Job. The line may be rendered “It is because of this that I am afraid of him.”

When I consider, I am in dread of him: this line adds little to the previous line. Consider translates a word meaning “ponder, reflect, think about,” and so New English Bible “When I think about him, I am afraid.” Good News Translation does not translate this phrase, but it combines the entire line with line a. However, the two lines are not identical in meaning, and so Good News Translation‘s translation is somewhat lacking. This line may be rendered “When I think about him, it fills me with fear” or “The thought of meeting him terrorizes 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 .