Job 17:15

where then ¹  is my hope? And my hope, ²  who sees it?

where then is my hope? Who can see any hope for me?

Where now is my hope? And who regards my hope?

But where then is my hope? Can anyone find it?

Do you call that hope? Who on earth could find any hope in that?

Where then is my hope? and who will see my desire?

where then is my hope? Who will see my hope?

Where then is my hope? As for my hope, who can see it?

where then ¹  is my hope? And my hope, ²  who sees it?

¹ tn The adverb אֵפוֹ (’efo, “then”) plays an enclitic role here (see Job 4:7).

² tn The repetition of “my hope” in the verse has thrown the versions off, and their translations have led commentators also to change the second one to something like “goodness,” on the assumption that a word cannot be repeated in the same verse. The word actually carries two different senses here. The first would be the basic meaning “hope,” but the second a metonymy of cause, namely, what hope produces, what will be seen.