Verses 21-25 are shifted by some translators to follow verse 10 because their content follows the same theme as in verses 1-10. In the Hebrew of verses 21-25 there is no expressed subject, and all the verbs are plural. This fact supports those who insert these verses between 10 and 11. Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation keep the order of the Hebrew text. The theme of these verses is the honor Job is given by his community.

Men listened to me, and waited: Men is supplied as the subject to accompany the plural form of the verb in Hebrew. Good News Translation supplies “people.” If this verse follows verse 10, then the subject is “princes and nobles” from verses 9 and 10. The order of the verbs in this verse may need to be rearranged to give a better sequence of actions. For example, “People waited for me and listened to what I said.” New Jerusalem Bible has “They waited anxiously to hear me.” Good News Translation transposes the two lines to give a more logical flow of thought.

And kept silence for my counsel: kept silence is parallel with listened to me in the previous line. My counsel may need to be expressed, as in Good News Translation, as a verb phrase; for example, “I gave them advice” or “I advised them.”

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 .