This verse has no two-line parallelism: only the two subjects are parallel in meaning. Abaddon, meaning “destruction,” was used in 26.6. See there for comments. Death also is personified. The allusion is to the place of the dead, as in 30.23; 38.17.

We have heard a rumor of it with our ears: rumor translates a noun form of the verb “hear” and means “what one hears,” “what is talked about.” With our ears: this expression is also found in Psalm 44.1. Bible en français courant translates “Yes, indeed, we have heard it spoken of.” In languages in which Abaddon and Death cannot be said to speak, translators will have to express the verse differently; for example, “In the place of the dead, only a rumor of it has been heard” or “Those in the world of the dead have only heard it spoken of.”

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 .