Why dost thou hide thy face: in Psalm 27.9; Isaiah 54.8 hide thy face means to be angry, while in Psalm 30.7; 104.29 it has the sense of unfriendliness, as it does here. In other words Job is asking “Why do you refuse to be friendly with me?” or as Good News Translation says, “Why do you avoid me?”

And count me as thy enemy: there are two matters to consider in regard to enemy. First, it may represent an increase of degree over the idea of being “unfriendly” in line a, so that what is avoidance in line a becomes the role of the enemy in line b. Secondly, the author may be making a play on words. The Hebrew term used here for enemy is ʾoyeb. Job’s name in Hebrew is ʾeyob. The idea in the author’s mind may have been to say “Why do you consider me your ʾoyeb? I am ʾeyob.” Line a may be rendered, for example, “God, why are you angry with me,” or idiomatically in some languages, “God, why is your heart hot with me?” “… why do your insides boil when you think of me?” or “Why are you so unfriendly toward me?” In some languages the expression for “my enemy” is “one who hates me.” Thus one may say “Why do you act as if I hate you?” The whole verse may be translated so that the intensification from “unfriendly” to “enemy” is brought out; for example, “Why are you unfriendly toward me and even consider me your enemy?”

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 .