Job answers the question which he assumed the friends have asked, by asking another question which he then goes on to answer himself. He advised them to note what experienced travelers have said as evidence of what he himself believes to be true to experience. In 15.17-19 Eliphaz would show Job the truth that was fixed before any foreigner entered. Job, by contrast, appeals to them to widen their knowledge from the perspective of people such as travelers who have seen foreign places.
Have you not asked those who travel the roads…?: this thought is expressed in Psalm 80.12; 89.41; Lamentations 1.12; 2.15; Proverbs 9.15. This line may also be expressed “Have you never asked people who travel” or “You can learn from travelers.”
And do you not accept their testimony: testimony translates a word meaning “sign or mark.” Dhorme suggests that these travelers were laborers and tramps who moved from town to town and wrote down their names and occasional thoughts on small signs which they left at cross roads, and so Job is thought to be asking if the friends have not seen these “signs.” Although interesting, this picture is not very likely because the testimony or “signs” Job refers to are detailed abstract thoughts concerning the fate of the wicked. Therefore it seems more likely that Job has in mind people such as merchants, astrologers, and others who would travel widely and speak about the strange things they witnessed in far away places. This is in line with Good News Translation “The reports they bring back.” Verse 29 may also be rendered “Have you never talked with people who travel to other places, and do you not believe what they tell?” or “You should talk with people who travel and come back with their reports.”
That the wicked man is spared in the day of calamity: verse 30 is the testimony that can be obtained from travelers who support Job’s claim “that when misfortune strikes, the wicked person escapes unhurt.” So Job contradicts the friends’ teaching of retribution, being punished for evil. The verb translated spared can mean “to restrain or check” as in 7.11; 16.5-6, and so King James Version says “reserved to the day.” However, this is not the sense in verse 30, which has the same meaning as in 38.23 and may be translated spared as in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. Day of calamity refers to a time when many people, or a whole community, experience disaster or misfortune. God is not mentioned in this line but is clearly implied, and so Good News Translation has “on the day God is angry and punishes.” Bible en français courant avoids “the day” and translates “The anger of God leaves him safe and sound.” It is important that verse 30 be translated as the content of the travelers’ reports from verse 29; for example, “Those travelers show that nothing happens to the wicked person when God is angry and punishes other people” or “… that wicked people escape God’s angry punishment.”
That he is rescued in the day of wrath: rescued is literally “led forth.” Although various changes in the Hebrew text have been proposed, rescued is a good rendering of the basic meaning and appropriate for the context. Line b means essentially the same as line a and is without poetic heightening, intensity, or focusing.
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 .