In this verse Job turns his attention to That night, referred to in verse 3 as the time when he was conceived. This verse again has three lines in which a positive curse is followed by two negative ones. Typical of heightening poetic effect is the step up from a limited time, days of the year in line 6b, to a larger unit of time, months. This process is similar to number parallelism, in which line b always goes beyond the number in line a. For example, Psalm 91.7, “A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand.” The intensification occurs in lines b and c.

That night—let thick darkness seize it!: in verse 4 Job asked that the day of his birth be darkness, and now he invokes the same upon the night he was conceived. The word “darkness” in the two passages represents two different words in Hebrew. The author uses another word of similar meaning here to enrich the poetic effect. Although the night is by its nature dark, Job calls upon it to be darker still, a thought translated by New English Bible, “blind darkness swallow up that night.” In translation it will often be necessary to make That night refer explicitly to the night Job was conceived, since the last reference was in verse 3b. In some languages it is necessary to employ euphemisms concerning conception, particularly when the Bible is to be read in public. Sometimes we must say “make disappear the night when my mother knew she carried me in her belly” or “remove the night when my mother knew that she was pregnant with me.”

Let it not rejoice among the days of the year: this rendering follows the Masoretic text. A change of vowels permits the rendering of King James Version, “let it not be joined unto the days of the year.” Hebrew Old Testament Text Project says the verb has three meanings: “to unite or integrate,” “to rejoice,” or “to see,” and gives no preference of one meaning over the others. However, “rejoice” and “see” could only be used metaphorically as parallel with the verb in line 6c, and therefore Good News Translation “be counted again” offers a good model (see similar renderings in Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Moffatt, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Bible en français courant, New American Bible, New International Version, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, New Jerusalem Bible). Good News Translation has switched “the year” to the first line and does not repeat it in the second. Only Revised Standard Version among modern translations consulted has “rejoice.” So Job is saying that the night of his conception should be dropped from the calendar.

In terms of the parallelism, the poet here raises the level of intensification. He is repeating line 6b, but repeating it with heightening effect, which now says “Let it not be counted as one of the days of the year; don’t even let it find its way into the months of the year.” Good News Translation has combined and shortened lines b and c into one. This, however, has been done on the basis of the apparent repetition, and at the expense of the poetic intensification that occurs between the two lines. As a general rule, before combining and shortening parallel lines, translators should determine if there is movement between the lines, and then seek to represent it in their translations. This may or may not permit the parallel line structures.

In languages in which an impersonal agent cannot be used, it may be necessary to address the command to God, as in Good News Translation verses 2-3.

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 .