21 The verb means “to hide; to withdraw.” The young men out of respect would withdraw or yield the place of leadership to Job (thus the translation “step aside”). The old men would rise and remain standing until Job took his seat—a sign of respect.
22 The verb here is “hidden” as well as in v. 8. But this is a strange expression for voices. Several argue that the word was erroneously inserted from 8a and needs to be emended. But the word “hide” can have extended meanings of “withdraw; be quiet; silent” (see Gen 31:27). A. Guillaume relates the Arabic habi’a, “the fire dies out,” applying the idea of “silent” only to v. 10 (it is a form of repetition of words with different senses, called jinas). The point here is that whatever conversation was going on would become silent or hushed to hear what Job had to say.

In other versions

the young men saw me and withdrew,

and the aged rose and stood;

the princes refrained from talking

and laid their hand on their mouth;

the voice of the nobles was hushed,

and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.

the young men saw me and stepped aside

and the old men rose to their feet;

the chief men refrained from speaking

and covered their mouths with their hands;

the voices of the nobles were hushed,

and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.

the young men saw me and withdrew,

while older men stood to their feet.

City officials stopped talking

and covered their mouths with their hands.

The noblemen’s voices were hushed,

and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.

The young stepped aside when they saw me,

and even the aged rose in respect at my coming.

The princes stood in silence

and put their hands over their mouths.

The highest officials of the city stood quietly,

holding their tongues in respect.

Young men saw me and stepped aside,

and the aged rose up and stood.

Officials refrained from talking,

and they laid their hand on their mouth.

The voices of nobles were hushed,

and their tongue stuck to their palate.

The young men saw me, and hid themselves:

And the aged arose, and stood up.

The princes refrained talking,

And laid their hand on their mouth.

The nobles held their peace,

And their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth.

Public Domain