Is my strength the strength of stones: strength translates the same word as in 11a, and it is used twice in 12a. Lines a and b are parallel, matching bronze with stones, both being figures of hardness and of insensitivity to pain. See 40.18 for comments on bronze. Job, by contrast, is a man of flesh and blood who cries out in his anguish. Or is my flesh bronze: in typical emphasis line a strength is matched in line b by the more specific my flesh. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch is even more specific, with “my muscles.” Bible en français courant, like Good News Translation, says “Am I a rock, I, to resist everything? Is my body bronze?” In some languages verse 12 may be rendered, for example, “Am I strong as a rock or am I made of bronze? Certainly not!” or “I am not as strong as a rock, and much less am I made of bronze.” If bronze is unknown, the translation can be “metal.”

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 .