But now, hear my speech, O Job: Elihu is now prepared to speak directly to Job. But suggests a contrast with the close of the preceding chapter, but it is rather a shift in topic and listener. “And now” expresses the linkage well in English. New Jerusalem Bible has “So, Job….” The fact that Elihu addresses Job by name does not mean that Elihu is a familiar friend or social equal of Job. It serves the purpose of keeping the focus of Elihu’s long speeches fixed on the principal character, who has now grown silent but must not fade in the reader’s mind. My speech refers to the arguments Elihu will put forward. O in O Job is an English vocative form sometimes use when calling to or addressing someone directly. The equivalent in many languages is the “you” pronoun or no special form at all.

And listen to all my words forms a chiasmus in Hebrew with line a; that is, the two lines are parallel in meaning, with the parallel elements coming in reverse order in line b. Good News Translation makes two lines but does not repeat the verbs: “And now, Job, listen carefully to all that I have to say.”

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 .