They thrust the poor off the road: Revised Standard Version understands the verb here to be transitive, with the poor as the object. New Jerusalem Bible makes the poor the subject and translates “The needy have to keep out of the way.” Revised Standard Version is preferred. Some take this line to mean that the poor have no rights on the public road, while others understand it to mean “The poor have no rights (anywhere.)” Good News Translation‘s rendering, “They keep the poor from getting their rights,” represents the second view and is clearly parallel to Amos 5.12, “prevent the poor from getting justice in the courts” (Good News Translation). Whether or not the translator retains the literal figure of pushing someone off the road will depend on how the figure is interpreted. Most modern translations follow Revised Standard Version. We may also translate, for example, “They keep the poor from using the road” or “They push the poor out of their way.” Using the model of Good News Translation we may also render the line, for example, “They do not allow the poor any rights,” “They keep the poor from being protected,” or “They will not let the poor do what they have a right to do.”

The poor of the earth all hide themselves: in this line poor of the earth is the subject. Of the earth is taken by some as “the poor of the land,” but this has no real difference in meaning. The expression means “all the poor.” Hide themselves translates the Hebrew “are hidden together,” an expression which here has a reflexive sense, so Revised Standard Version hide themselves. The thought expressed is that the poor have no rights, and to survive they are forced to conceal themselves, or to hide from their oppressors.

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 .