Verse 12, as shown in the display at the beginning of this chapter, repeats the opening theme of God’s indifference to the suffering of the oppressed. In this way the poet has enclosed the arguments from verses 2-11 between the common theme of verses 1 and 12.
From verse 12 to verse 25 there are a number of three-line verses in Hebrew. Until now Job has been speaking of the suffering of the poor in the countryside; now he shifts his attention to the city.
From out of the city the dying groan: Revised Standard Version is not clearly translated. Good News Translation makes this thought clear with “In the cities the … dying cry out.” Dying translates the Hebrew for “men.” This is a change of one vowel and follows the Syriac. Dying provides a better parallel with wounded in line b and is accepted by Good News Translation and many others. Good News Translation has incorporated the wounded from line b and for stylistic reasons placed it before the dying, and translates only the verb of line b. Revised Standard Version keeps the two parallel lines. Groan translates the word used in Ezekiel 30.24, “and he will groan before him like a man mortally wounded.” These are the cries of wounded, dying people. In some languages it may be necessary to say “the wounded and dying cry out to God” or “people who are wounded and dying cry to God for help.”
And the soul of the wounded cries for help: it is the nefesh that cries for help. This same word can also mean “throat” or “neck,” and so New Jerusalem Bible translates “and the gasp of the wounded crying for help.” This line does not suggest that the disembodied souls of the wounded cry for help; soul of the wounded is a poetic way of speaking of the wounded. Cries for help carries forward the thought of groan in line a by intensifying it. Translators who retain the parallel lines may wish to render this line, for example, “and the wounded ones cry out to God for help” or “… cry out, ‘God, help us!’ ”
Yet God pays no attention to their prayer is literally “but God does not charge madness,” in which the final word is the same as in 1.22, which Revised Standard Version translates “Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.” New International Version and others therefore translate “But God charges no one with wrongdoing.” The Syriac translation and some Hebrew manuscripts change the vowels of the final word to get prayer, and this is followed by Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, and many others. The verb in this clause is the same as used in 23.6, where Revised Standard Version translates “give heed.” The line is correctly translated by both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project rates the Hebrew text as “B” and understands that “madness” refers to the unjust treatment of the poor in the previous verses. In this view the line can be rendered “But God pays no attention to the wrongdoing of the rich” or “yet God pays no attention to the evil things the rich do to the poor.” In this way we can follow the Hebrew text and get a satisfactory translation.
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 .