Let us choose what is right: by choose Elihu refers to a process in which a person chooses after examination, and the focus of the meaning is on the analysis or examination. So “let us examine, take a close look at, discern.” Many modern translations do not relate verse 4 directly to Job’s case but translate as New International Version, “Let us discern for ourselves what is right.” However, Elihu is not calling for a general moral decision but for an examination of Job’s claims. Therefore Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch says “Let us investigate together the case,” and Good News Translation “It is up to us to decide the case.” The line may be rendered, for example, “Let us examine the case you have with God” or “We should look carefully at the argument you have with God.”

Let us determine among ourselves what is good is parallel with the first line, and Good News Translation does not repeat it, but Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates “We must recognize what is right and good.” New International Version, like many others, has “Let us learn together what is good.” Habel translates the line “Let us decide between us what is defensible.” Good is not to be taken as an abstract notion but as an evaluation of Job’s charges against God. The line may also be expressed “let us see for ourselves what seems best” or “we should make up our minds what would be best.”

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 .