Today also my complaint is bitter: Today is the only apparent reference in Job to the time of an action, and it has been interpreted by some as indicating that the poet is calling attention to the passing of days during which the speeches took place, or that chapter 23 takes place a day or more following chapter 22. It seems more probable that Today also signals that Job is renewing his old complaint even after having heard all his friends have to say. Therefore it may be better to translate “In spite of what has been said” or “Just the same.” Good News Translation “I still…” gives the expression this sense. For complaint see 7.13; the term is also used in 9.27; 10.1; 21.4. As the Revised Standard Version footnote indicates, bitter follows a textual change made by the ancient versions. The Hebrew has “rebellious,” so New Jerusalem Bible translates “My lament is still rebellious.” Job’s complaint is against God, and Good News Translation makes this clear with two clauses: “I still rebel and complain against God.” God is not mentioned by name in verses 1-15 but is represented by pronouns. In translation it will often be necessary to replace some pronouns by the noun “God.” This line may also be expressed “In spite of what you have said, my complaint is as strong as before,” “I’ll tell you again, my complaints are bitter,” or “Once more I object and complain against God.”

His hand is heavy in spite of my groaning is literally “My hand is heavy on my groaning.” Revised Standard Version and others follow the change made by the Septuagint, his hand, which New Jerusalem Bible renders more clearly than Revised Standard Version as “despite my groans his hand is just as heavy”; that is, God goes on causing Job to suffer in spite of Job’s groans. Dhorme and others keep the Hebrew “my hand,” with the sense that Job tries to suppress his groans by laying his hand over his mouth. Bible en français courant translates “I have really wanted to suppress my groans,” and it transposes lines a and b so that a follows b with the sense “In spite of wanting to suppress my groans, still my complaint is stronger than ever.” Good News Translation translates “I cannot keep from groaning,” which follows the Hebrew text rather than the Septuagint. Good News Translation‘s rendering would be more accurate by including an expression to cover the sense of “my hand”: “in spite of trying to suppress them, I can’t hold back my groans.” Hebrew Old Testament Text Project retains the Hebrew and recommends a literal translation, which it explains as “My silence is an enforced one.” Revised Standard Version translates the Hebrew preposition in line b as “in spite of.” In other words, God pays no attention to Job’s groans but goes on punishing him. Taken as a whole it seems best to recommend the change followed by Revised Standard Version, his hand. Line b is taken as the reason for the complaint or rebellion in line a. Revised Standard Version can be expressed differently to say, for example, “because God keeps on punishing me in spite of my groaning” or “… in spite of my painful cries.”

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 .