Eliphaz continues his narrative use of parallel lines. Verse 15 presents in line a the cause and line b the effect.

A spirit glided past my face: A spirit translates the Hebrew ruach, which does not likely refer to the spirit of God but to an eerie wind or breeze. In many languages the use of spirit without qualification will imply a bad spirit. If it were a disembodied spirit, it would be the only such usage in the Old Testament. However, in Eliphaz’s speech there may be a play on words here. The Hebrew verb translated glided past is used in Isaiah 21.1 to describe the movement of whirlwinds in the desert. Although the source of the wind is not disclosed, its purpose was clearly not evil in intent. Therefore something like breeze or breath is to be preferred; for example, “A breath of air brushed against my face” or “I felt air blow against my face.”

The hair of my flesh stood up is a natural reaction to a frightening experience. The word translated hair is the subject of various interpretations. As used here the term means a single hair, which, of course, in poetic discourse can be understood as a part standing for the whole. Some scholars suggest changing the Hebrew word for hair to get “horror” or “tempest.” Habel believes the parallelism of the text favors a reading that gives “whirlwind” and so says “A whirlwind made my flesh shiver.” However, it seems best to take line a as the cause of line b, and all other translations agree with Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. In some languages the hair does not “stand up,” but the “skin gets cold” or “bumps form on the skin.”

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 .