In contrast to his inability to find God, Job is confident that God knows where to find him. But he knows the way that I take: But may be understood as introducing a contrast between verse 10 and the two previous verses, or it may have the sense of “Although.” The way that I take is well rendered by Good News Translation “every step I take.” Syriac has “my way and my standing,” which Dhorme accepts and translates “my going and my staying.” Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation are preferred, or we may also translate, for example, “But he knows the path I follow” or “But he knows where he can find me.”

When he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold: tried translates the same verb used in 7.18 “and test him every moment,” where it refers to God testing Job’s faithfulness. See 7.18 for discussion. Good News Translation has dropped the simile as gold and gives instead the sense of the simile, with “… find me pure.” For this kind of testing compare Zechariah 13.9 “I will … test them as gold is tested.” By appealing to Arabic and Ugaritic evidence, Dahood understands the verb translated come forth to mean “shine,” referring to the shining surface of the gold in the heated crucible when the impurities have been removed. Bible en français courant translates “but I will come out of it (the testing) pure, as the gold in a crucible.” In languages in which this metaphor is not current, perhaps because smelting of precious metals is also unknown, it will be best to follow Good News Translation. In other languages people do not speak of a person as being “pure.” In such cases it may be possible to express this line as a simile; for example, “If he examines my ways, he will find me clean as pure water.”

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 .