Job now shifts from the children to the adults. They spend their days in prosperity: the reference is not to passing their time but to “living out their days, bringing their lives to an end, completing their lives.” They grow old and end their days in prosperity. Instead of dying prematurely and having everything taken from them, as Zophar claimed in 20.11, Job sees the wicked coming to the end of their lives as prosperous and wealthy people. Translators must be careful that They does not refer any longer to the children. Therefore it may be better to say “Those wicked parents live all their lives having wealth” or “Those wicked parents have wealth all their lives.”

And in peace they go down to Sheol: in peace is literally “in a moment.” The sense is that they die quickly without lingering in illness and suffering. So Good News Translation “and quietly die without suffering.” Go down to Sheol is not a punishment but the expected departure from life as portrayed throughout the Old Testament. Sheol is the place of the dead. It is not thought of as a place of punishment and should not be translated by a word equivalent to “hell.” This line may be rendered, for example, “and when they die they go peacefully to the place of the dead,” or “and they go to the grave in peace,” or “they die in peace and are buried.”

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 .