Oh, that I had one to hear me!: the Hebrew says literally “Who would give me a listener?” Job has made his appeal to God for a hearing many times, and so he is again appealing to God but does not use the Almighty until the following line. The line may be translated, for example, “Oh, how much I want to be listened to!” or “Oh, if only someone would listen to me!”

Here is my signature! let the Almighty answer me!: my signature translates “my Taw,” the final letter in the Hebrew alphabet. In ancient Hebrew writing this letter was written in the form of a cross. It is Job’s signature or mark which makes any document of his authentic. Although Job does not mention a document, the expression calls up the image of authenticating a legal paper. Without referring to a signature Good News Translation says “I swear that every word is true.” Bible en français courant translates “I can sign what I have said,” meaning that signing it makes Job responsible for its truthfulness. Some take the word translated signature to mean “desire” and translate “This is my desire,” which is completed with “that the Almighty would answer me.” This is similar to New English Bible “Let the Almighty state his case against me!” or, in other words, “My desire is that the Almighty state his case against me.” It is more probable, however, that Job is speaking of his signature and using the expression to claim that all he has said is true. This line may also be expressed, for example, “Oh, how much I wish Almighty God would speak out. I would sign my name to show that all I have said is true.”

Oh, that I had the indictment written by my adversary!: the words Oh, that I had are not in the Hebrew but are supplied by Revised Standard Version to give balance between this line and the first. Good News Translation translates the remainder of verse 35 as an “if” clause in order to link it with verse 36 as the consequence. Because this line opens up a new thought which has consequences in the next verse, such a restructuring, as in Good News Translation, is recommended. Job has presented his case, but he has never seen the charges against him. Indictment translates a term meaning “letter, document, or book.” In this context it refers to “the charges” brought against Job. My adversary is literally the “man of my case,” that is, “the one I am involved with in a legal case,” or as Good News Translation rightly says, “my opponent.” This line may be related to verse 36 by leaving blank space between it and the preceding line and by saying, for example, “As for the charges of my accuser, I wish I had them in writing” or “If I had the written charges made by the one who accuses 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 .