Deck yourself with majesty and dignity: this is a command to Job to adorn himself with the symbols of power. The invitation to Job, if he can accept, gives him the royal qualities of the divine ruler. The divine speaker seems almost harsh in his sarcastic challenges to a ragged and sickly Job still sitting in a pile of ashes. Majesty and dignity translate two words both beginning with the same letter in Hebrew and each suggesting high, elevated, superior status. Translations differ considerably in the way they render these: Pope “grandeur and majesty,” New English Bible “pride and dignity,” New Jerusalem Bible “grandeur and eminence,” New International Version “glory and splendor,” Good News Translation “honor and pride.” Good News Translation drops the figure in this line, but keeps it in the next on the assumption that the retention of one, rather than both, gains in clarity. This line may be expressed, for example, “Show that you have honor and pride,” “Show that you are a noble person and have pride,” or in some languages, “Let me see you act like a proud chief.” An exclamation mark can serve to signal a sarcastic remark, if the exclamation mark has that sense in the receptor language.

Clothe yourself with glory and splendor expresses the same idea as in the previous line. As in line a the two words translated as glory and splendor both begin with the same Hebrew letter. These two words are the ones used in Psalm 21.5; 96.6; 111.3. In Psalm 104.1 the psalmist says of God, “You are clothed with glory and honor,” which uses the same words. In some languages the expression clothe yourself must be adjusted to say, for example, “become a great and powerful man,” or “be great and glorious,” or “show that you are great and that people honor you.”

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 .