SUMMARY
Job continues to defend his integrity before God.
ANALYSIS
This verse can be translated two different ways. The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) translates it, “See, he will kill me; I have no hope; but I will defend my ways to his face.” The New International Version (NIV) translates it, “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face.” Which is it? Does Job hope in God or not?
The difference in translation hinges on one letter in the Hebrew. The most likely translation from the original Hebrew is the first one, “See, he will kill me; I have no hope.” The rabbis and the Jewish scribes and scholars who followed them – those who copied and transmitted the Hebrew text in medieval times – were apparently theologically troubled by this statement and so they suggested the change: “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him.”
In either case, the situation is stark: Job accuses God and holds to his own integrity. Whether God kills him or not, whether Job has hope or not, he will defend his ways to God’s face. This is, in the end, a profound response to suffering, to cling to the God whom you also accuse.
