He does not believe that he will return out of darkness is literally “He does not believe a return from darkness.” The subject is still the wicked man, but the meaning of return out of darkness is problematic. Some suggest that he fears the night, that he will not wake up. Others take darkness to mean “misfortune.” That is, he will always remain unfortunate. Dhorme understands the verb form rendered return out of to mean “escape from,” and translates “He does not expect to escape the dark,” and this is followed by Good News Translation and others. All of these express the torments which his conscience causes him. In this line darkness is thought of as a person, and in some languages it may be necessary to restructure return out of darkness by saying, for example, “He has no hope that he can avoid misfortune,” “He knows he will have to suffer,” or “There is no way he can avoid death.”

And he is destined for the sword: the Hebrew verb translated destined is passive, “watched or waited for.” However, this is the only place where this word is used in this way. Good News Translation and others shift to the active: “for somewhere a sword is waiting for him.” Bible en français courant keeps the passive, “They feel themselves being spied on by a violent death.” Sword is an image of violent death and refers to being killed. In some languages a sword does not operate without a person using it, and so this line must be expressed, for example, “and someone is waiting to kill him with a sword.” In languages in which the sword is unknown, it may be possible to substitute a local weapon or to say, for example, “somebody is waiting to murder him.”

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 .