Gold and glass cannot equal it: Gold translates the same term used in verse1. Glass translates a word found only here, but the meaning is quite certain from related languages. In the ancient world glass was rare and therefore highly prized. Good News Translation says “fine glass” to give a higher value than the common value that glass has today. New English Bible and others accomplish the same thing with “crystal.” The phrasing in Hebrew is negative, as reflected in Revised Standard Version. It may be necessary in translation to shift this to the positive by saying, for example, “It is worth more than gold and fine glass,” as Good News Translation does. In some languages the word glass is unknown except as applied to drinking glasses, which today are often made of plastic. In some cases glass is known by such descriptive phrases as “see-through stone.” Where the term cannot be modified appropriately with “fine, pure, costly,” it may be better to substitute a word such as “beads,” which often are of considerable value for their color and rarity.

Nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold: the Hebrew has “a vessel of fine gold.” This is the only occurrence in Job of the word translated fine gold, although it is found in Psalm 19.10; Proverbs 8.19; Song of Solomon 5.11. Good News Translation and others understand “vessel” to refer to a “gold vase,” which is probably more accurate than jewels. In some languages a “vessel of gold” may be rendered “a pot made of fine gold.”

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 .