But I would speak to the Almighty: Job has just said in 12.14 that “if God shuts a man in, none can open.” In spite of Job’s fateful picture of the God who acts to suit himself, Job will still appeal to God to hear his case. Verse 3 opens with a conjunction marking strong contrast. The contrast is between appealing to his friends and appealing to God. Good News Translation has brought this contrast out clearly by adding “not you”: “but my dispute is with God, not you.” Almighty translates the Hebrew Shaddai. See comments on Almighty in 5.17. Speak in line a is general, with the more specific kind of speaking in line b, argue, which produces poetic heightening.

And I desire to argue my case with God: aside from the poetic intensification in this line, the two lines say much the same thing. Argue my case translates a single Hebrew verb meaning “convince, correct, rebuke.” It is used as a reflexive verb in Isaiah 1.18, “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD” (Revised Standard Version). Argue my case may be expressed “I want to talk to God and prove I am innocent” or “I want to speak to God and show him I am not guilty of wrong.”

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 .