This also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges: the thought is repeated from verse 11b. According to Deuteronomy 17.2-7 the worship of heavenly bodies was punishable by death. Punished by the judges is rendered correctly by Good News Translation as “punished by death.” The idolater was to be stoned to death.

For I should have been false to God above: the sense is that Job would have been disloyal or unfaithful to God if he had been an idolater. False to God translates a verb meaning “to deny, to reject as true.” Good News Translation says “it denies…,” where “it” refers to “sin” in the previous line. However, Job is saying that if he sinned in this way, he himself would be “denying God on high.” Bible en français courant says “because I would have been a traitor to God on high.” Translators may find that the two lines of this verse should be transposed; for example, “Doing that would have been unfaithfulness to God…” or “That would have made me disloyal to God, and the judges would have condemned me to die for that sin.”

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 .