There were born to him expresses the Hebrew form of saying that Job was the father of his children. Some languages prefer this kind of passive construction while some require it; but many others must use an active voice, as in Good News Translation “he had seven sons.” Many languages distinguish between bearing animals and bearing children. Seven sons and three daughters provides the evidence for Job’s goodness and his fear of God: he is rewarded with a large family (see Psa 127.3; 128.3 where children are rewarded to the faithful). Seven children was a desirable number (1 Sam 2.5), but seven sons was even more ideal (Ruth 4.15). In some languages it may appear odd that the children are left nameless and are said to be born to Job without reference to his wife. (In the conclusion Job’s three new daughters have names.) Readers in some languages will most likely infer from the statement that there were several wives. The author refers to Job’s wife only in chapter 2, without specifying that she is the mother of his children.

In some languages a bridge may be required in moving from one subject to the next; for example, “speaking of his children…,” or “about Job as a father….”

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 .

And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights: Good News Translation translates the connecting word with “Then,” which makes a more logical transition from the expressions of mourning to their sitting silently with Job. Seven days and seven nights is the period of mourning for the dead in Genesis 50.10; 1 Samuel 31.13. Ezekiel sat “overwhelmed” for seven days with the exiles of Tel Abib (Ezek 3.15).

In translation in some languages it may be necessary to shift the reason clause ahead of the result clause; for example, “Because they saw how much Job was suffering, they sat with him on the ground for seven days and nights without saying a word” or “They sat with Job on the ground for seven days and nights; because they knew how much he was suffering, they did not say a word.”

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 now shifts away from Job’s person to generalize, reminding him that, according to their shared store of wisdom, the suffering of the righteous is for discipline and not for destruction. This verse sums up the main argument of Job’s three friends. The two lines are parallel, with a step-up of feeling brought about in line b, where the figurative cut off matches the more general perish in line a. Psalm 37 represents the view that the innocent do not perish, and 37.9 says “For the wicked shall be cut off; but those who wait for the LORD shall possess the land.” The same thought is expressed in Proverbs 12.21, “No ill befalls the righteous, but the wicked are filled with trouble.”

Think now is literally “recall or remember now.” Innocent in line a and upright in line b refer to the same people, not to two different groups. The same combination is found in 2 Samuel 14.9 with the meaning of “blameless.” Such persons are called innocent because they are innocent of doing evil and so are “righteous, good, just, upright.” In other contexts innocent refers to people who are helpless in that they have no way to provide for themselves (see Psa 10.8). For the translation of upright see comments on 1.1.

If the translator is translating Job as prose, Good News Translation offers a model in which innocent and upright are reduced to “a righteous man,” and perish and cut off are condensed to “meet with disaster.” On the other hand, if the parallel lines are to be kept, we may translate, for example, “Think about it, Job, did a just person ever meet his doom, or was a good person ever actually destroyed?” In languages in which active verbs will be required, we may say, for example, “Did God ever bring an innocent person to his death, or did God ever snatch away the life of a good person?” Moffatt attempts to represent the poetic movement: “What guiltless man has ever perished? When have the just ever been swept away?”

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 .

In league with the stones of the field: this line has been the subject of much speculation. Only a few opinions need be mentioned. Some understand it to mean that the stones in the field will not become numerous and make cultivation difficult. Others take it to mean that property boundaries marked by stones will not be violated by enemies. Some make a change in the word stones to get “lords.” This would then refer to spirits which inhabit a field. Still others change stones of the field to get “sons of the field,” which would mean something like “beasts of the field,” and so be parallel with the next line. All of these interpretations are represented in modern translations. Revised Standard Version and some others leave the meaning unclear. Good News Translation, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Moffatt, New English Bible, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, and others, while not agreeing, do give some sense to the expression. Both stones and beasts are normally things that make a farmer’s work difficult and dangerous; but in these lines Eliphaz speaks of a peaceful relation existing between them and Job. The translator is advised to follow the meaning suggested by Good News Translation, or one of the other translations which avoid the literal rendering of Revised Standard Version. Bible en français courant says “You will be protected from damage to your fields, from rocks which are thrown there….”

Beasts of the field shall be at peace with you: as in verse 22b the reference is not to domestic animals but to wild animals. The prophetic vision of Isaiah 11 is summarized here. In Ezekiel 14.21 four scourges are listed: “sword, famine, evil beasts, and pestilence.” Be at peace with you translates a form of the Hebrew word shalom with the meaning of making peace with someone. Translators may find it is not appropriate in their language to give the impression that animals make some kind of peace treaty with people or vice versa. It will be better to use some expression as in Good News Translation, or Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “and the wild animals will be your friends.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch says “and every wild animal leaves you there in peace,” implying as Good News Translation states negatively, “will never attack you.” New English Bible has replaced beasts with “weeds” and offers no explanation for this.

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 .

Beginning with verse 3 in unit A, Job shifts from the general observation to concentrate on his personal complaints. Verse 3 has two lines, in which months in line a is paralleled by nights in line b.

So I am allotted months of emptiness: so translates a Hebrew connective which indicates that the following clause is a logical sequence to what has come before; that is, Job applies the misery of the soldier, worker, or slave to himself. So I am allotted is literally “Thus I am caused to inherit.” Just as an heir receives property from his ancestors without having chosen them, so Job receives his misery without having any say in the matter. What Job has inherited is months of emptiness. Emptiness translates a word meaning “vanity” or “futility” which occurs also in Psalm 89.47, translated by Revised Standard Version “for what vanity thou hast created all the sons of men.” The reference is to the short span of a person’s life and is rendered by Good News Translation “you created all of us mortal!” The figure of months of emptiness refers back to the “days” of verse 1 and extends the picture of suffering from days to months over these verses.

The expression I am allotted may have to be shifted to an active voice, with God as the actor; for example, “God makes me spend months….” It may be unnatural to receive something abstract such as months of futility, and so the translator must often shift to something like “month after month my life is useless.” In some languages it is possible to assign this emptiness to Job’s fate in the sense “It is my lot to spend month after month for nothing” or “… to live for months with no purpose.”

Nights of misery are apportioned to me: this line is a generalized introductory statement followed in verse 4 by the picture of Job tossing on his bed, trying to go to sleep. Misery translates a term meaning “sorrow, grief, oppression, suffering.” As in line a there is no attempt to say how many nights were involved. However, the time span is seen as a cycle of inescapable repetition, or as Good News Translation says, “month after month” and “night after night.” It is not stated who has caused Job’s grief, but in verse 7 Job, without addressing God by name, calls upon God to remember how short Job’s life is. So here, as in the previous line, it is God who has handed out to Job his months and nights of misery. Line b may parallel line a in a stylistically acceptable manner; for example, if it is possible to say “pass month after month of futility,” line b may say “and night after night in suffering.”

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 .

Bildad has reached the conclusion of his speech and now summarizes his advice to Job in terms of the divine justice in which God takes care of good people but refuses his protection to the wicked. Behold, God will not reject a blameless man: Bildad’s principle is first stated in negative terms; the positive expression of it is to come in the next two verses. Blameless is the quality which the poet used to describe Job in 1.1, and which God used of him in 1.8. Not reject may be expressed positively in some languages; for example, “God will accept a blameless person.” Nor take the hand of evildoers: line b contrasts evildoers with blameless man in line a. Take the hand is used in Isaiah 42.6 meaning that God supported, protected, helped. This line is negative and may be translated “But God will not help evil people.”

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 .

Let him take his rod away from me: in Psalm 23 the rod in the hand of the shepherd protects the sheep. Here the rod is a symbol of God’s punishment and is mentioned again with the same sense in 21.9. In 13.21a Job cries out for God to remove his hand from Job. Good News Translation has avoided the image of the punishing rod, with the direct command “Stop punishing me, God.” Although the verbs in both lines in Hebrew are in the third person, Good News Translation has shifted to the second person with direct address. The result is a more natural and vivid account. If the translator finds it best to stay closer to the form of the Hebrew, it may be possible to restructure line a as “I ask that God stop beating me with his stick,” “I ask you, God, to stop beating me,” or “God, stop beating me.”

Let not dread of him terrify me: in 7.14 Job accuses God of terrifying him with dreams and visions in his sleep. Here he asks God to stop terrifying or frightening him. If direct address is continued in line b, this may be expressed, for example, “and stop frightening me.” If verse 34 is taken as addressed to the imaginary judge in verse 33, the verse may be expressed as a request; for example, “Make God stop beating me and causing me to be afraid.”

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 a stupid man will get understanding, when a wild ass’s colt is born a man: this verse has been understood in various ways:

(1) As two parallel lines: “And so an empty man gets understanding, and a wild ass’s colt is born a man.” That is, the stupid man becomes clever, and the ass becomes a man. The two parts are separate statements.

(2) As a sarcastic comparison: “The stupid man will have understanding only when an ass gives birth to a man.” In this sense the stupid person will never understand.

(3) A suggestion made by Pope and followed by Good News Translation is that the word translated colt, which is here the offspring of the donkey, really means “male domestic donkey” rather than offspring. The other Hebrew word means a wild donkey as in 6.5. The Hebrew word ʾadam, translated man, should be read ʾadamah “open country” and modifies wild donkey. This permits the translation to read “A stupid man will get understanding just as easily as a wild donkey of the open country will be born tame,” or, as Good News Translation translates, “Stupid men will start being wise when wild donkeys are born tame.” This rendering is more natural as a proverbial saying than Revised Standard Version and is recommended to translators.

This saying is made up of a comparison in which the unlikeliness or impossibility of the first clause is matched by the impossibility of the second. In some languages the comparison will not be evident; for example, where wild and domestic donkeys are unknown. In other languages the comparison may be too obscure to be understood. In the first case it may be possible to substitute other animals; for example, “Stupid men will become wise men when snakes are tame as dogs.” Another solution is to substitute a general word such as “animal”; for example, “… when wild animals give birth to tame animals.” In some cases it may be necessary to make the comparison within each clause more redundant; for example, “Stupid people will stop being stupid and act like wise men when wild donkeys stop giving birth to wild young and give birth to tame young” or “It is as impossible for stupid people to be wise as it is for wild animals to give birth to domestic animals.” Some languages may have local expressions that convey these comparisons more clearly, and in such cases these may be used.

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 .