In the dark they dig through houses: this line does not continue the description of the adulterer but passes on to tell what the thief does. They dig is in the Hebrew “he digs.” The verb in the next line has “they” as subject, and so Revised Standard Version and others change to they in this line. Good News Translation shifts to a more general kind of entry with “Thieves break into houses.” The Hebrew expression is equivalent to Matthew 6.19. Compare also John 10.1. Dig through houses means to “dig, pierce, bore” a hole in the walls of houses. This practice is referred to in Ezekiel 8.8; 12.5, 7, 12. It is a common practice in some areas for thieves to gain entrance to a building by making a hole through the back wall, where they will not be seen. Revised Standard Version does not say directly that this is the work of thieves, but translators should make it clear, as in Good News Translation “At night thieves break into houses.” If the expression “dig through the walls of houses” is apt to be misunderstood, it is better to follow Good News Translation. We may also say, for example, “thieves make holes in the walls of houses” or “thieves get into houses by making a hole in the wall.”

By day they shut themselves up: since Hebrew has a singular subject in the first line and a plural here, some interpreters have understood this line to refer to all three groups of evildoers. Others, such as Good News Translation, take verse 16 to refer to the thieves only. Both views are possible. The Hebrew verb in this line usually means “to seal something shut,” as in sealing a document. New English Bible agrees with King James Version in interpreting the verb as referring to the thief going about in the daylight, marking the doors of suitable houses for robbing: “and in the darkness breaks into houses which he has marked down in the day.” This involves altering the verb to the singular to refer to the thief. But the verb nowhere else has the meaning given to it here in New English Bible, and no thief would be likely to attach his personal seal to a house or door in this way so that he could later be identified. So most translators interpret the verb to mean shut themselves in the dark. This line may also be expressed “they stay indoors during the day” or “in the daytime they keep themselves hidden.”

They do not know the light: because they keep themselves shut up in the dark during the day, and only go out to do evil in the night, “they are unfamiliar with the light,” “they do not know what is in the daylight,” or “they have no idea what the daylight is like.”

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 .