He seals up the hand of every man: verse 7 is interpreted and translated in various ways. Revised Standard Version gives a literal translation whose probable meaning is that God prevents people from working, by causing it to rain and snow. Agricultural work in the fields is interrupted by the weather. Good News Translation makes this clear by avoiding the figurative language. New English Bible has “He shuts every man fast indoors.” This involves making a change in the Hebrew word for hand, and taking the word translated seals up to mean “close up,” as it is used in Jeremiah 32.11 and Daniel 12.4.

That all men may know his work is literally “that all men of his work may know.” The traditional Hebrew text uses a form that means “men of his work,” that is, men whom he has made. Some scholars believe the last letter of the Hebrew for “men” was lost when the text was copied because it is the same as the first letter of the next word. In that case the text would say “that all men may know of his work.” The Revised Standard Version footnote gives the first meaning as representing the Hebrew text. The Revised Standard Version text follows the opinion of the scholars so as to represent the second meaning, to which Good News Translation agrees. The wording all men (Good News Translation “them”) has an added advantage in that it permits the parallelism of every man in line a and all men in line b. New English Bible follows an interpretation of the verb translated know to mean “rest,” as in 20.20 “his greed knew no rest.” And so New English Bible translates “and all men whom he has made must stand idle.” Another possibility is “that every person may rest from his work.” This suggestion provides an excellent parallel with line a, provided that line a is understood to mean “He brings the work of people to a stop” because of the rain and snow in verse 6. The Good News Translation translation may be followed; however, the preferred rendering is “He brings all the work people do to a stop so that all may rest from their work.”

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 .