Is there any number to his armies?: this rhetorical question expresses the thought that God’s troops, armies, are limitless in number. In 19.12 Job said God’s “troops … cast up siege works against me.” There the same word for “troops” is used as here. In 2 Kings 13.20-21 these troops are “marauding bands.” Good News Translation “angels” is questionable. There is no evidence that angels or stars are meant here and so “troops,” “armies,” or “bands” are preferred. Translated as a negative statement this line may be rendered, for example, “There is no end to the number of his troops,” “His armies cannot be numbered,” “No one can count how many armies he has,” or “He has so many armies that no one can count them.” The translator will note that the two lines of this verse are not parallel in meaning in the Revised Standard Version form. This is discussed in the next paragraph.

Upon whom does his light not arise?: Revised Standard Version translates the Hebrew word light. By a change of one letter the Septuagint gets “his ambushes,” and this is followed by Dhorme and New English Bible. The Hebrew Old Testament Text Project committee was divided, half favoring the Hebrew and half the Septuagint (and both with a “C” rating), and so it recommends either. The use of “his ambushes” provides a parallel for line a; for example, “His squadrons are without number, at whom will they not spring from ambush?” (New English Bible). Following the Hebrew, Good News Translation translates “Is there any place where God’s light does not shine?” Following the Septuagint we may also render the line as a statement, particularly if the previous line was translated as a statement. In some languages this line will have to be expressed as a positive statement; for example, “They will attack anyone from ambush” or “They wait in hiding to attack anyone.” Revised Standard Version‘s rendering may also be expressed as a positive statement, “His light shines everywhere,” or as a double negative statement, “There is no place where his light does not shine.”

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 .