Why does your heart carry you away translates the Hebrew “Why does your heart take you?” Heart here is the center of emotions, and Eliphaz is asking “Why do you allow yourself to be carried away by emotions?” Good News Translation, which prefers a statement, has “But you are excited.” The sense is that Job does not think calmly about what his friends say, but rather reacts emotionally. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch says “Why do you let your feelings stir you up so badly?” Bible en français courant “Why do you react with so much emotion?” This line may also be expressed figuratively in some languages; for example, “Why does your heart beat so fast?” “Why do you let your insides leap in you?” or “Why does your liver shake?”

And why do your eyes flash: Job’s emotional outbursts are reflected in his eyes. Flash translates a word found only here. According to Rowley, Targum and Syriac equate it with an Aramaic verb found only in post-biblical Hebrew, but with the first and second consonants switched around, and meaning “wink.” In many languages “wink” would carry a different meaning than what is intended here. The context makes clear that Job reacts with anger in his eyes, and so Good News Translation “glare at us in anger” is a good rendering. This line may also be rendered idiomatically sometimes, “And why do your eyes turn red?” or “And why do your nostrils flare?”

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 .