This verse continues Job’s curse of the night of his conception. Both lines are negative in meaning, and there is a limited degree of movement between lines a and b. Line a contains the figurative expression, which in poetic heightening is normally found in the second line.

Yea, let that night be barren: the word translated barren is found outside Job only in Isaiah 49.21. It is not the usual word for sterility but calls attention to stony, unproductive soil. Job wants the night responsible for his conception to be punished by never allowing another child to be born on it. In some languages it is not possible to speak of a night being barren; therefore it may be necessary to recast this expression to say, for example, “never (again) let anyone be conceived on the night I was conceived.” This may be expressed in active form as “never let another woman become pregnant on the night my mother did.”

Let no joyful cry be heard in it: joyful cry refers to the happy sounds of the adults, not to the crying of the newborn infant. In other words, each time the anniversary of Job’s conception comes round, it must be greeted by silence, not any word of happy congratulations. Good News Translation combines and shortens the two lines into one but retains the components of meaning. In languages in which the passive cannot be used here, it may be necessary to say, for example, “let no one make a joyful shout,” or as in Good News Translation, “joyless night.”

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 .