OET interlinear JOB 33:23

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: grammar-connect-logic-contrast

אִם

if

Elihu is drawing an implicit contrast between the angels of death whom he described in the previous verse and the type of angel he describes in this verse, who helps keep a person from going “down to the pit” (as he says in the next verse). If it would be helpful to your readers, you could indicate the contrast explicitly in your translation. Alternate translation: [But if]

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

מֵלִ֗יץ

mediator

The word translated interpreter is used elsewhere in the Bible to mean someone who translates what someone says in one language into another language, for example, in [Genesis 42:23](../../gen/42/23.md). Here, however, it implicitly means someone who speaks on behalf of another person, not necessarily translating what that person says into another language. Alternate translation: [an advocate] or [a spokesman]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom

אֶחָ֥ד מִנִּי־אָ֑לֶף

one(ms) (Some words not found in UHB: if there_is on/upon/above=him/it messenger mediator one(ms) out_of a_thousand to=announce to/for=ʼĀdām/humankind uprightness_of,his )

Elihu does not necessarily mean that exactly one out of every thousand angels is an interpreter such as he describes. Instead, this expression may mean in a general sense that such angels are rare. If it would be helpful in your language, you could state the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: [that rare kind of angel]

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

לְ⁠הַגִּ֖יד לְ⁠אָדָ֣ם יָשְׁרֽ⁠וֹ

(Some words not found in UHB: if there_is on/upon/above=him/it messenger mediator one(ms) out_of a_thousand to=announce to/for=ʼĀdām/humankind uprightness_of,his )

This could mean: (1) that the angel would declare to a person how he would need to change his actions so that he would be upright or have a right standing with God (his would refer to the person) or so that his actions would conform to God’s uprightness (his would refer to God). Alternate translation: [to declare to a person how he needs to change his actions in order to become upright]; (2) that the angel would declare to God on behalf of a person (the word translated to would mean “for”) that the person was upright or had the potential to change his actions and become upright and so did not need to die. Alternate translation: [to declare to God on a person’s behalf that he is upright]