This verse states two consequences which can happen to the apparently dead tree stump.

Yet at the scent of water renders the vivid poetic imagery of the Hebrew, suggesting that at the slightest contact with water the tree stump will take on new life. Good News Translation has not attempted to retain the metaphor nor to adapt it: “with water it will sprout.” Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, on the other hand, says idiomatically “Upon smelling the freshness of water….” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “It has only to feel a tiny bit of water…,” and Bible en français courant “A bit of water suffices for it to regain life.”

It will bud and put forth branches like a young plant: it refers to the apparently dead tree stump. Bud and put forth describe the growth process from budding to growing a branch. Young plant suggests the tree that has been freshly planted or transplanted.

We may translate verses 8-9, for example, as follows:
8 Even if the roots grow old,
and the stump decays.
9 it will send out new sprouts,
when it gets a bit of water.

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 .