Lo, these are but the outskirts of his ways: Lo translates a Hebrew particle which most probably introduces a condition, and Dhorme and others translate “If such are….” Many others, however, translate this line as a statement. These refers to the descriptions of God’s power in the preceding verses. Outskirts translates a space term which in this context refers not to a distant area such as outskirts suggests (as when referring to the distant outskirts of a city), but rather to something only partially disclosed or revealed; the term can be translated as “outline, glimpse, a small part of,” which New Jerusalem Bible renders “only a fraction of,” and Good News Translation “only hints of.” His ways is translated “his power” by Pope, based on Dahood. Bible en français courant has “his actions,” and New Jerusalem Bible “what he has done.” Dhorme supports these with “his works.” All of these are better translations than his ways. The line may also be rendered, for example, “All that I have been saying is only a small part of what he has done” or “These things are only a hint of his great acts.”

And how small a whisper do we hear of him!: whisper translates a word found only here and in 4.12. The Hebrew interrogative particle is used in this line as an exclamation marker; an English equivalent may be “How small is the whisper we hear of him!” This line can follow the “if” clause which may be used in line a, or it can be translated as a separate comment on line a. New Jerusalem Bible translates “and all we catch of it is the feeblest echo.” Good News Translation translates line b as being in apposition with line a, so that “only the whispers” refers back to the content of line a. Line b may also be rendered “what we have heard is hardly a whisper,” or “and we only catch a slight whisper of all that he does,” or “we know almost nothing of the things he does.”

But the thunder of his power who can understand?: the thought now takes shape for the entire verse: if we hear only the tiny whispers (the faintest noises) of God’s great acts, how can we grasp the true greatness of his power? Psalm 104.6-7 says that God rebuked the waters above the mountains and they fled: “at the sound of thy thunder they took to flight.” The threats of God in verse 11 are thus expressed in his thunder. In poetic terms thunder in this line stands in sharp contrast to whisper in line b. However, thunder of his power intends to convey far more than “powerful thunder.” Zophar made the point in 11.6-9 that God’s ways belong to the secrets or “mysteries of his wisdom.” They are hidden. The question now asked is who can “grasp, comprehend,” not just the loudness of his power displayed in thunder, but his true greatness? As Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates, “How truly great and powerful God must be!” or Good News Translation “Who can know how truly great God is?”

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 .