Such you have now become to me: the Hebrew text says, literally, “because you have become nothing.” The marginal reading in the Hebrew Bible says “You have become it.” Revised Standard Version follows the Septuagint and Syriac, which have “You also have become to me.” Good News Translation and others change the first word from “because” to “like” and get “You are like those streams to me.” New International Version has “You too have proved to be of no help.” Although the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project committee rates both the Masoretic text and the marginal reading as “C,” the recommended translation of the text “you are nothing” and of the margin “you have become it” seem to imply the sense rendered more clearly by Good News Translation. Job is comparing his friends to the treacherous desert streams.

You see my calamity, and are afraid: there is here a play on the words see (tirʾu) and are afraid (tiraʾu). The word translated calamity occurs only here and so is different from that used in 6.2. Its meaning is seen in New English Bible “dismay,” New Jerusalem Bible “misfortune,” New International Version “something dreadful,” Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “horrible situation.” Just as the caravan travelers were dumbfounded at the dried-up streams, Job accuses his friends of reacting the same way to his misfortunes. In verse 14 Job equates failure to be compassionate to a friend with forsaking the fear of God. As a result the sight of his suffering produces not compassion but fear.

The two lines of this verse are not parallel. Line a is a conclusion by way of comparison to verses 15-20. For this reason it will often be clearer, as in Good News Translation, to make the comparison to the treacherous streams; for example, “You are just like those dry stream beds to me” or “You have dealt with me like those dry stream beds which disappointed the travelers.”

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 .