Satan again asks Yahweh to put forth thy hand, as he did in 1.11. There he challenged Yahweh to “touch all that he has.” In verse 4 Satan speaks of “skin”; now, however, he goes further to speak of his bone and his flesh. His argument is that God has not allowed him to go deep enough below the surface to really injure Job. Therefore touch his bone and his flesh refers to striking, injuring, harming Job’s body. We may translate, for example, “strike him down and make him ill,” “reach out and injure his health,” or “put him down and harm his body.” Job, who suffers mentally and spiritually, will now suffer also physically.

He will curse thee to thy face: see comment on 1.5, 11.

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 .

The poet brings the chapter to a close with a crescendo of emphasis and a personal revelation of Job’s inner self. No sooner does Job fear some disaster than it happens to him. The emphatic nature of the parallel lines is accomplished by the step-up in the movement of the verb fear in line a followed by dread in line b. In some languages it may not be possible to find two verbs for fear which heighten the intensity. In such cases it is often possible to use only one verb and to reinforce it through an intensive; for example, “The things I fear are the very things that happen to me, and what I really fear most takes place.”

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 .

But he saves the fatherless from their mouth: the Hebrew reads “But he saves from the sword from their mouth” and lacks the words the fatherless. Many interpreters believe that an object of the verb saves is needed in line a to match the needy in line b. It may have been left implicit in the Hebrew in order to keep the number of words the same in the four poetic lines of verses 15-16. Therefore some modify the word “sword” to get the fatherless. Gordis understands the Hebrew to mean “from the sharp tongue,” and that without any change. Numerous other suggestions have been made, but most of these differ as to deliverance being from the sword or from the mouth. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project suggests “from a sword,” “from their mouth,” or “from their sharp mouth.” This solution leaves unanswered the question who is delivered or saved in line a. Most modern translations name the object of the verb saves (fatherless, poor, helpless, destitute, ruined), and New Jerusalem Bible has “the bankrupt.” Most have a note saying “Hebrew unclear.” From their mouth is to be taken as referring to the tyrants who are pictured as wild animals devouring the poor, as in Proverbs 30.14, and this is matched in line b by the mighty. Good News Translation has “saves the poor from death,” where “death” means destruction at the hands of the powerful.

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 .

Eliphaz has generalized about Job’s suffering and bases his arguments on the assumption that Job has sinned. Job is willing to listen in silence if they will show him how he is at fault. Teach me, and I will be silent: Job will be silent so that he can listen, or as Good News Translation says, “and listen to you.” Teach me is matched in the next line by make me understand, which translates the causative form of the Hebrew verb.

How I have erred: erred translates a verb used in Leviticus 4.13, “If … Israel commits a sin unwittingly…” (Revised Standard Version); “sins … without intending to” (Good News Translation). The note in New Jerusalem Bible says “sinning inadvertently or through ignorance.” So Job is asking his friends to show him how he has unintentionally sinned. In some languages it will be clearer to say, for example, “I will be quiet so you can teach me.” If being silent does not infer clearly the act of listening, it will be better to say, for example, “I will be quiet and listen to you; go ahead and teach me.” How I have erred may need to be recast, and may be rendered idiomatically in many languages; for example, “how I have strayed from the right path,” “how I have failed to walk straight,” or “the wrong path I have taken.”

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 .

While yet in flower translates “while it is in its greenness” and refers most likely to the early or blossoming stage of the plant, a plant that is not yet ripe or mature for use. They wither before any other plant: this line is the main clause, and in some languages it must come before the line above. It is implied that these plants will wither more quickly than any other plant “if the water dries up,” as Good News Translation makes clear.

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 .

Verse 24 continues the same observation of God’s indifference to the innocent. There are three lines in this verse, and only the first two are parallel. The earth is given into the hand of the wicked: the verb is passive, and the implied subject is God. Translations are divided between those which take earth to refer to an individual nation and those which understand it to refer to the world generally. It seems preferable to assume with Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation that the general meaning is intended. Into the hand means into the power or control of wicked people. In languages in which a passive verb cannot be used, it may be necessary to say, for example, “God gives the earth to wicked people” or “God lets evil people have power over the earth.”

He covers the faces of its judges: in Exodus 23.8 bribery is condemned because it covers the eyes of officials so they can not see where justice lies. Translators are probably familiar with the image of justice represented as a feminine figure holding a scale in one hand and a sword in the other, and whose eyes are blindfolded. The blindfold is supposed to suggest that justice should be dispensed without prejudice. The picture in this verse is quite different. Here it is God who covers the eyes of the judge so he cannot see the truth and judge fairly. If the metaphor of covering the face or eyes gives the wrong meaning, translators may restructure this expression to say, for example, “He blinds the eyes of judges so they cannot judge fairly” or “He prevents justice being given, by blinding the eyes of judges.”

If it is not he, who then is it?: Job’s friends have argued that a man’s good fortune is the result of his merits, because God rewards the innocent. Job argues against that position from his own innocence. Since Job’s friends cannot accept that God has brought on his suffering, Job puts this question to them: “If it is not God, then who is it?” New English Bible does not translate the question in its text, but Hebrew Old Testament Text Project rates it an “A” reading, and translators should retain it. This question may have to be restructured to say, for example, “If it is not God who does these things, then who does them?”

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 .

He looses the bonds of kings: bonds translates the Hebrew “discipline, correction,” which most scholars read with different vowels to get bonds or “chains.” It is not certain if the meaning is that God removes the chains which kings put on others, or if God takes away some symbol of royal authority belonging to kings. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project understands it in the latter sense, as do Good News Translation and others: “He dethrones kings.” Biblia Dios Habla Hoy has “He leaves kings without authority.” New International Version represents the former sense, “He takes off the shackles put on by kings,” referring to the bonds kings put on people. Dhorme thinks the bonds of kings refers to chains which keep kings in bondage, so that the meaning is “He sets kings free from chains.”

The understanding of the first line is partly dependent upon the second, and binds a waistcloth on their loins. In Revised Standard Version the relation between the two lines is not clear. The Hebrew says “and he binds a girdle on their waist.” Some take this to mean that he strengthens the kings by placing a girdle or wide band about their middle. However, it is more probable that the meaning is that God, having removed their symbol of authority, puts on the kings a waistcloth which is worn for doing hard physical labor, and so depicts a slave. Good News Translation translates this entire line “and makes them prisoners.” A literal rendering of line b such as New International Version, “and ties a loincloth around their waist,” would require an explanatory note to show that he reduces the king to a slave. It is better to give the fuller cultural significance in the text by saying, for example, “and makes them slaves” or “and ties a loincloth on them and makes them slaves.” Another translation model is “God takes away the authority of kings and makes them like slaves.” If the translator wishes to keep the change of clothes image in each line, it may be possible to say, for example, “He takes away from kings their robes of authority and puts on them the loin cloth of a slave.”

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 .