How you have helped him who has no power!: here and in the following two verses Job uses you (singular). This is in contrast to his use of “you” (plural) when addressing the friends, and the singular here suggests that he is replying to Bildad’s last speech. Him who has no power refers to Job and means “someone who is weak or oppressed.” Good News Translation renders the expression “poor, weak man that I am.” Job is sarcastically asking “Do you think you have been a help to this weak person?” The expected reply is “No!” This line may also be translated as a negative statement, “You certainly have been no help to me, poor and weak as I am.” Good News Translation brings out the irony better with an exclamation: “What a big help you are…!” Translators must be alerted to irony and reminded to use the appropriate devices in their own languages which will signal to the reader that Job is saying one thing and meaning another. Literal translations of irony may result in distortion of the author’s purpose. In some languages there are special particles that convey the sense of irony. In others this is done by restructuring. In some languages irony is expressed by adding an expression like “Someone might think…” or “You must imagine….” Special sound repetitions called ideophones are sometimes used in African languages to signal this kind of irony.

How you have saved the arm that has no strength!: this line introduces a figure to heighten the sarcasm. The word saved also means “help.” Since helped in line a and saved in line b have essentially the same meaning, Good News Translation does not repeat “help” in line b. Revised Standard Version saved is less satisfactory in this context than another word meaning help such as “assist” or “aid.” Strength is symbolized by arm and was used in 22.8, translated “the man with power….” The arm that has no strength is a literal rendering of the Hebrew and means “a powerless person” or “a man without power.” New Jerusalem Bible expresses the satire of the verse well: “To one so weak, what a help you are, for the arm that is powerless, what a rescuer!” New English Bible translates this line “What deliverance you have brought to the powerless!” Verse 2 may be rendered in some languages, for example, “You must imagine how you (singular) have helped me in my weakness, and imagine also how you came to the rescue of such a weakling!”

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 .