I am repulsive to my wife is literally “My ruach is repulsive to my wife.” Ruach means “spirit,” “wind,” or “breath,” and, like nefesh “soul,” sometimes represents the living person, usually translated “I.” Here “breath,” meaning halitosis or a bad odor from the breath, best suits the context; so Bible en français courant, Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible, Bible de Jérusalem, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, New International Version, and others. The line may be expressed, for example, “My bad breath is disgusting to my wife,” “My breath is so foul my wife turns away from me,” or “My bad breath offends my wife.”

Loathsome to the sons of my own mother: loathsome translates a verb which is parallel with repulsive in line a and means “to have a foul smell.” Sons of my own mother would refer to Job’s true brothers, male children born to the same mother. The Hebrew expression is literally “sons of my belly,” which would normally refer to Job’s own offspring. However, these children have been killed. Interpreters have suggested that these sons are children of his concubines (who have never been mentioned), or his clansmen, or his grandchildren. Translators are divided between those like Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation, who understand these to be Job’s brothers, and those who consider them to be his own children. In regard to the latter, Pope believes that the author does not bother himself with the details of the prose section of the story, and so has no problem calling them Job’s own children. Both interpretations are possible. Therefore we may translate, for example, “my own brothers can’t stand my odor” or “I am a terrible stench to my own children.”

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 .