Revised Standard Version makes the first line of this verse a consequence of verse 34 but leaves the second line obscure and ambiguous. Then I would speak without fear of him: Revised Standard Version takes this line to mean that only if God’s terrors were removed would Job be able to speak out fearlessly in his own defense. Good News Translation, which provides another model, does not relate the line as a consequence of verse 34, but rather as a sudden shift in outlook: “I am not afraid.”

There is furthermore the problem of the second line: for I am not so in myself. This line by itself is obscure and is translated literally by Revised Standard Version. Some scholars understand the line to mean “in my own conscience I am not what God thinks”; and closely related to this is Good News Translation “because I know my own heart.” New Jerusalem Bible similarly has “I do not see myself like that at all,” and New Revised Standard Version, New English Bible “for I know I am not what I am thought to be.” Dhorme, on the other hand, shifts line b to the beginning of the verse and translates “Since it is not so (that is, because Job cannot deal with God as a human, verse 32), I with myself will commune and will not fear Him.” In this sense Job will make his defense to himself. The context suggests that Job is contrasting himself in his normal state with that of being terrified by God. In his normal situation he would be himself and speak freely without intimidation. Translators may follow Dhorme’s model by saying, for example, “Since I am not truly myself, I cannot defend myself freely,” “Since I cannot do as I normally would…,” or “Since I am terrified by God, I am unable to argue my case as I should.”

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 .