But now they make sport of me: verse 1 should be clearly marked as a contrast of past time in chapter 29 with present time in chapter 30. In Hebrew this verse has four lines, the first two being combined in Good News Translation. Revised Standard Version, which keeps the Hebrew form, does not name the subject until the second line. Make sport of translates the same verb which is rendered as “smiled” in 29.24. There Job “smiled” in kindness, but here Job is the object of someone’s mockery. Good News Translation has “make fun of me,” and New English Bible “laughed to scorn.” In translation we may use the same expressions for make sport of as were used for “scorn” in 16.20 and 22.19.

Men who are younger than I translates the Hebrew phrase “those smaller than I in days,” which many translate as younger. The question is how much younger? Respect for a person’s elders was expected as proper behavior. In 29.8 young men withdrew out of respect for Job. Dhorme suggests that the reference is to the mocking shouts of children, as in the case of Elisha in 2 Kings 2.23-24, and this is followed by Bible en français courant, which says “But now I am ridiculed by urchins who don’t respect my age.” Good News Translation “men younger than I” can imply that Job was making only a small distinction in age, whereas a significant age difference is intended, as is seen in the next line. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch says “who are much younger than I,” and Moffatt has “my juniors.”

Whose fathers I would have disdained to set with the dogs of my flock: Job is concerned not only that they are children, or at least much younger than he, but that their status is inferior. Job disdained their fathers, which in Hebrew is “whom I would have refused…”; that is, “I would not have considered letting them work with my sheepdogs.” Good News Translation and others translate this line as a fact; Revised Standard Version and many others prefer a hypothetical statement with the implied meaning “Even if someone had requested me, I would not have allowed….” Although sheepdogs were valued by shepherds (see Isa 56.9-11), they were also despised as being unclean animals that scavenged for their food (1 Kgs 14.11; 21.19, 23; Psa 68.23). To call a person a “dog” was a serious insult (1 Sam 17.43; 2 Sam 3.8; 16.9), and this is still true in Arabic today. The meaning is not that Job would have disdained to turn his dogs on these people, but that he would not have hired them do the work of a sheepdog or, as Moffatt says, “I would have scorned to trust with a sheep-dog’s task!” In languages in which sheep herding and the use of sheepdogs to keep the flock together are unknown, this line will require some adjustments. Good News Translation “I would not let them help my dogs guard sheep” may be one such adjustment. Another may be “I would not let them do the dog’s work of guarding the sheep” or “Dogs help guard the sheep, but I would not let their fathers help the dogs.” In some languages a note may be required; for example, “Dogs are trained to look after sheep and to prevent them from straying.”

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 .