Behold, he is in your power: without further discussion, Yahweh hands over to Satan the power to strike Job again. In place of “all that he has” in 1.12, the attack now is to be directed against Job’s person. Power translates “hand” as in 1.12. This expression may sometimes be rendered “You can do with him as you wish,” “Your power is over him,” or figuratively, “He is in your hands.”

Only spare his life: the word spare translates a Hebrew verb meaning “protect or watch over” and normally expresses the care which Yahweh gives for his own, as in Psalm 16.1. The restriction Yahweh has put on Satan’s second attack is expressed variously by different translations. Good News Translation has “he is in your power, but you are not to kill him”; Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “do whatever you like provided you respect his life”; Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “I give you power over his body, but you must not attack his life.”

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 .