The small and the great are there: in Hebrew the word following there is the pronoun “he,” which some interpreters take to mean “the same” or “alike.” The meaning is that the small and the great are all equal in Sheol, their worldly differences having been leveled out. The Hebrew “he” is used with the meaning “same” or “like” in Psalm 102.28; Isaiah 41.4; 43.10, 13; 46.4, and is translated in that way by Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, New American Bible, Moffatt, Bible en français courant, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Bible de Jérusalem. Good News Translation takes The small and the great to include everyone and refers to them as “Everyone is there, the famous and the unknown.” Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation do not say that they have all become equal in Sheol, but this may be implicit. In some languages the distinction between The small and the great is rendered, for example, “People who live near the chief and those who live far,” “People everyone knows and people no one knows,” or “Big people and little people.”

In Revised Standard Version slave occurs only here and in 7.2. In line a a distinction is made between two social groups, the small and the great (people). In line b the slave is contrasted with the master. Also in line b the slave makes specific the more general small in line a, and the same applies to the movement from great in line a to his master in line b.

The sense of slave here is a person who is forced to be under the authority of another. Master is the one who controls the slave and keeps the slave under subjection. Free means the slave ceases to be under the master’s control.

In languages in which slaves and masters are unknown, some adjustments are required, as was the case of “prisoners” in verse 18. In line 19b it may be necessary to say, for example, “the one forced to labor no longer has a boss over him” or “the people who were captured to do work do not have to work anymore.”

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 .