The man with power possessed the land: in this verse Eliphaz drops the second person singular pronoun and speaks in the third person. Translators deal with this sudden change in a variety of ways. Revised Standard Version retains the third person, but this has the effect of breaking with the preceding verses. New English Bible treats the verse as a question which has arisen in the mind of Eliphaz as he reflects on the previous verses. “Is the earth then the preserve of the strong and a domain for the favored few?” Good News Translation shifts to the second person singular. New Jerusalem Bible uses still another technique. In verse 6 New Jerusalem Bible has “You have exacted unearned pledges,” then begins the following clause and each successive clause with the verb: “stripped people … failed to give … refused bread … handed the land over … sent widows….” In this way New Jerusalem Bible makes it clear that each of these acts was done by Job, but without directly saying “you.” Man with power is literally “man of arm,” the arm being a symbol of strength, as in Psalm 10.15, “Break thou the arm of the wicked….”

And the favored man dwelt in it: favored man is literally “the lifted-up face.” This probably refers to the one who has the right to raise his eyes and look directly at the master. Pope says “apparently an oblique reference to Job as an arrogant land-grabber who dispossessed his weaker neighbors.” In the light of the prose introduction as well as the other comments on Job’s life, Eliphaz’s accusation here does not fit Job. Good News Translation assumes The man with power in line a and the favored man in line b are the same person. There is no agreement concerning to whom this refers. Good News Translation and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch assume it is Job. New Jerusalem Bible translates “You (in verse 6) handed the land over to a strong man, for some favored person to move in.” Here the two persons may be the same or different. In Bible en français courant Job is accused of letting someone else do it: “You allow the strong to take over the country and the most arrogant to occupy it.” Bible en français courant has an alternative rendering in its footnote: “You who are strong seize the country and you’ve had the nerve to make it your own.” This agrees essentially with Good News Translation, which is one model to be followed. The translator may also interpret man with power in line a and favored man in line b as different persons and translate, for example, “You help powerful people to take away other peoples’ property, and then people with influence occupy it” or “You enable the strong to take the land of the weak, and your friends use it for themselves.”

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 .