You say, ‘God stores up their iniquity for their sons’: the words You say are not in Hebrew; they are supplied on the basis that Job is replying to an objection the friends may raise. The principle of children suffering for the sins of their parents is found in Exodus 20.5 and Deuteronomy 5.9. In 5.4 and 20.10 the friends spoke of the inheritance of suffering the wicked parent leaves for his children. Jeremiah (31.29ff.) and Ezekiel (18.2ff.) both reject the view that the sins of the parents cause their children to suffer. Compare also Matthew 27.25. Stores up translates the Hebrew literally, a word meaning “to keep something in reserve, to save up.” Iniquity means sin or wrongdoing. The Hebrew speaks of the wicked in the singular, “his (iniquity)” and “his (sons),” which Revised Standard Version has generalized correctly in English as “their (iniquity)” and “their (sons).” This line may be rendered “You say that God holds on to their sins and makes their children suffer because of them,” or “You believe that God punishes the children of these wicked people,” or “You believe that God is saving his punishment for these people’s children.”

Let him recompense it to themselves, that they may know it: the wording of Revised Standard Version is awkward and the meaning unclear. The Hebrew has only three words which translate literally “He repays him and he knows (it).” This line anticipates the friends’ objection and is explained further by verse 20. The form of the verb translated recompense means “punish, carry out reprisals,” and so means “Let him (God) punish him (the wicked person) himself.” Know it is to be understood in the sense of “learn from it, profit from it.” The final clause can be “so that they learn from it.” Good News Translation opens this line with “No!” as a strong objection to the teaching in the first line. Good News Translation then repeats “God punish” from line a and supplies the object “sinners.” A third line, which Good News Translation has created, is to make very certain that the punishment is for “their sins,” and “their” is placed in italics to emphasize that it is the sins of the wicked parent and not the sins of the children. Good News Translation has gone further than is necessary, and the two lines can be clearly translated “You claim God punishes a child for the sins of his father; instead let God punish the father so that he will benefit from it.”

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 .