From the wicked their light is withheld: in 24.17 the wicked love to carry out their evil in the night, and so “deep darkness is morning to all of them.” Their light is withheld therefore refers to the coming of dawn, which takes away the darkness referred to as their light. The use of their light meaning “darkness” is irony: “The wicked have their light taken away” or “What the wicked call their light is taken away from them.”

And their uplifted arm is broken states that the wicked are unable to carry out their violent acts because the daylight has come. The uplifted arm is an image of violence. Good News Translation says “and restrains them from deeds of violence.” Because their light is irony and refers to the opposite of light, it may be necessary to translate this satire as “darkness” and restructure the sentence in line a to say, for example, “Daylight takes away darkness from the wicked,” “When daylight comes the wicked lose their darkness,” or “When it is daytime the wicked have no more darkness.” Line b may then be expressed, for example, “and they can no longer hurt people” or “they lose the strength to injure people.”

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 .