In spite of my right I am counted a liar: a comparison of Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation will show how differently this verse can be translated. A literal translation of line a in the Hebrew can be “Upon (or, With regard to, In spite of) my right I lie.” The problem in line a is I am counted a liar, which translates the Hebrew “I lie,” occurring in the intensive form of the verb. The Septuagint has “he lies.” Scholars suggest that the Hebrew “I lie” is a scribal change to avoid calling God a liar. Dhorme therefore changes it to “he speaks falsely,” and this is followed by New English Bible, “he has falsified my case,” to which Hebrew Old Testament Text Project agrees.

It should be remembered that Elihu is here quoting Job, and that in the previous line God is the subject. It is logical and fits the context to assume that God is the subject of this line also. Accordingly the preferred rendering of this line is something like “He (God) does not speak the truth about my case,” “What God says about my case is not correct,” “God lies about my right to be heard.” Bible en français courant says in its text “He (God) does not judge me according to the truth,” and in its footnote “He lies concerning my case.”

However, many modern translations keep “I lie” in the sense of Revised Standard Version I am counted (by God) a liar. Some translations take “I lie” in a hypothetical sense; for example, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy says “It would be a lie to admit that I am guilty.” Good News Translation keeps “I lie” and makes it into a rhetorical question. Translators are advised to translate as in the previous paragraph.

My wound is incurable, though I am without transgression: my wound translates “my arrow,” which is generally understood to be the poetic use of the instrument for wounding in place of the result. In 6.4 Job says “The arrows of the Almighty are in me.” His wound is incurable and so leads to death. Accordingly Good News Translation translates “I am fatally wounded.” Without transgression means “I am innocent.” So the whole line says “In spite of being innocent, I am dying from my wound.” In some languages the cause of the wound may have to be stated, expressing this line as, for example, “although I am innocent, I am dying from the wounds God has given me” or “I have done no wrong, yet God has wounded me and I am dying.” This line ends the quotation, as understood in Revised Standard Version and others, and should be marked as such.

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 .