Be hid from the scourge of the tongue: be hid from means to be saved, spared, protected, sheltered. Scourge of the tongue means malicious gossip or slander. In this metaphor the tongue is made to appear like a whip or scourge that inflicts painful punishment. In a similar vein Psalm 31.20 says “Thou holdest them safe under thy shelter from the strife of tongues” (Revised Standard Version). Good News Translation renders that verse “you hide them from the insults of their enemies.” Revised Standard Version uses the passive shall be hid, which must be shifted to an active verb in many languages; for example, “God will protect (shelter, defend, help, hide) you.” If the figure of being protected from gossip or slander is not natural, the translator may be able to say, for example, “God will protect you from people who speak bad words about you” or “… from people who tell lies about you.”

And shall not fear destruction when it comes: Good News Translation has made “will save you” in line b more parallel to “will rescue you” in line a than the text justifies. As Revised Standard Version shows, line b is a consequence of line a, and most translations use some form of shall not fear. Destruction translates a noun meaning violence, devastation, ruin, misfortune. Contrary to the normal arrangement of poetic parallel lines, destruction is the general term and occurs in the second line, where we would expect the specific or figurative phrase. Note, however, its position in verse 22. There is no indication of the exact nature of the destruction. It sums up all the misfortunes in verses 20-21. In some languages it is not possible to “fear destruction,” and so the expression must be recast to say, for example, “You will not be afraid when violent things happen” or “… when disaster takes place,” or better, “… when these bad things happen to 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 .