Job appeals for the close attention of the friends. Listen carefully to my words: see the comments on 13.17, where Job used the same words.

And let this be your consolation: Revised Standard Version is misleading in its wording, which sounds as if Job is giving consolation to the friends. Your consolation means “the consolation or comfort which you give me.” In 15.11 Eliphaz claimed to offer Job “the consolations of God.” Job has received no comfort from the friends, but if they will only listen to him, by doing so they will be able to comfort him. This verse may be rendered “Please listen carefully to what I have to say; this is the only comfort I expect from you,” or idiomatically sometimes, “Open your ears for me; then you will be able to help me.”

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 .