Do not long for the night: Elihu appears to be telling Job that it will do him no good to curse the night in which he was conceived (3.3-8). It is also possible that night is used by Elihu to refer to death. Job asked in 3.16 why he was not hidden (died at birth) as an infant that never sees the light. Most translators agree with Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. In Hebrew there is no structural link between the two lines, but when has been supplied by Revised Standard Version, and “the time when” by Good News Translation.

Peoples are cut off translates “peoples go up,” which has a close parallel in Psalm 102.24, which Good News Translation translates “take me away.” In their place may also be rendered “on the spot” or in this context “suddenly.” Hebrew Old Testament Text Project‘s rendering can be adjusted to say, “Do not long for the night (death) to come, the time when the nations will suddenly disappear.”

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 .