In verse 23 Job says that he feared God would send misfortune on him if he committed the wrongs he denies having done. Many scholars have proposed changes in this verse to get other meanings, but the Hebrew text can be translated satisfactorily without changes.

For I was in terror of calamity from God is literally “for a terror for me the calamity of God.” The form is, as Hebrew Old Testament Text Project translates, “For the calamity of God was a terror for me,” which may be rendered “I was afraid that God would bring some disaster upon me.”

And I could not have faced his majesty is literally “because of his majesty I could not do.” Majesty here is not some royal aspect of God but is in parallel with terror in the previous line. The Hebrew requires completion of its thought, which New English Bible does with “could do none of these things.” Other possibilities are “I could never do such a thing” (Good News Translation) or “I could never do such a thing because I was afraid of him.”

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 .