Here are Jehovah’s Witnesses covering Job for the next several weeks at their midweek meetings. Oh, yeah—that’s what I’m talking about!

A Book that comes to grips with God’s looking upon suffering:

What not to say during your next visit to the hospital:

Eliphaz to Job, upon hearing the latter cursing the day of his birth:

“If someone tries to speak to you, will you become impatient? For who can hold back from speaking? True, you have corrected many, And you used to strengthen the weak hands. Your words would raise up anyone stumbling, And you would strengthen those whose knees were buckling.” (Job 4:2-4)

Are these words said sarcastically, as in: ‘You say you have seen many through their calamity?’ It seems so in view of what follows:

“But now it has happened to you, and you are overwhelmed; It touches you, and you are dismayed.” (vs 5)

This is not what you say to someone who has lost all his children, his home, all his possessions, and his health  in quick succession. This is not what you call a fine bedside manner. It makes one doubt the sincerity of his previous words at 2-4

Eliphaz continues:

“Does your reverence for God not give you confidence? Does your way of integrity not give you hope? (vs 6) Remember, please: What innocent person has ever perished? When have the upright ever been destroyed? What I have seen is that those who plow what is harmful And those who sow trouble will reap the same.” (vs 7-8)

Does the NWT miss the nuance of verse 6? The verse is rendered as though Eliphaz is trying to strengthen Job, which is not consistent with what he says elsewhere—arguably before and certainly after, with his “What I have seen is that those who plow what is harmful and those who sow trouble will reap the same.” Translation: Job is reaping what he has sowed. Does he have problems? They’re his own fault.

It gets worse:

“By the breath of God they [miscreants like Job] perish, And through a blast of his anger they come to an end. The lion roars, and a young lion growls, But even the teeth of strong lions are broken. A lion perishes for lack of prey, And the cubs of a lion are scattered. (vs 9-11)

Translation: ‘You finally ran out of prey, didn’t you Job? And now, you toothless lion, you are called to account.’

So does the NWT-2013 say it best at verse 6? With every line, Eliphaz tears Job down. He builds him up at 6? No.

The King James Version’s rendering of verse 6 is more consistent: “Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways?”

To be sure, better punctuation (which is just a matter of translator privilege) would improve it: “Is not this thy fear: thy confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways?” Italicize ‘this’ and replace the first comma with a colon. What thereby presents is a verse that sets the stage for what follows, as the NWT’s rendering does not. What thereby presents is a verse suggesting Job must surely fear that God has seen right through him and knows that his ‘uprightness’ is but a sham: “Is not that your real fear?” he knifes his down-on-his-luck ‘friend.’

Now, how do other translations render verse 6? Do any favorites emerge? Through Biblegateway.org and Studylight.org one can compare dozens of different translations;

Alas, they all line up the NWT way. Even the KJV does, since it doesn’t punctuate it the way I like. Ah, well—they’re probably right. Who am I to stand against every single rendering? ‘Oh, sure!’ my wife might say, ‘Tommy’s right and everybody else is wrong!’ Nope—I’m not going to step into that one. I withdraw my suggestion.

(I don’t really.) Because, my version of verse 6, combined with applying a sarcastic twist to verses 3 and 4,  fits the surrounding narrative, and the others do not—or at least, mine fits it better.

On the other hand, my version all but paints Eliphaz as a Terminator, determined to wreak havoc on the man from the get-go. He does turn out that way, but maybe he started with good intentions and is only undermined by his sanctimonious ‘theology’ which holds that if you suffer, it must be divine retribution.

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