Verses 31 and 32 describe Leviathan in the water. The deep translates a word used in Psalm 69.2, 15; 107.24, and refers to the water at the bottom of the sea, or to the depths of the sea. Boil translates the same word found in 30.27, where the heart is said never to be still. The thought is that he churns up the water so that it appears to boil, not that he makes it hot. Pot refers to a cooking pot.

In line b sea matches deep in line a. Like a pot of ointment has given rise to many different renderings. The Hebrew word for pot of ointment denotes perfume itself, as in Ezekiel 24.10 (Revised Standard Version footnote), as well as a pot for making ointments or salves to be rubbed on the skin. In this sense the pot contains material for making medicine and so gives off a medicinal odor. Good News Translation makes this general with “bubble like a pot of oil.” New English Bible, which speaks of “lake” instead of sea, says “He whips up the lake like ointment in a mixing-bowl.” The whole verse may be rendered “When he gets in the water he stirs up the sea like a pot of boiling water, like a pot of steaming medicine.”

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 .