Men put an end to darkness: this verse, like the following one, has three lines in Hebrew. It describes the miner working under the ground. Men put translates the Hebrew for “one puts.” Put an end to darkness probably means that the miners work in the dark mine by using lamps, or as Bible en français courant translates, “Below the ground, miners carry light.” This is clearer than Good News Translation “explore the deepest darkness,” which does not show how they overcome the darkness inside the earth. The line may also be rendered “Miners take lamps (lights, torches, fire) into the dark mines” or “They carry their lights into the dark places.”
And search out to the farthest bound: farthest bound translates the term used in 26.10 referring to the boundary between light and darkness. Here it refers to the limit or extent to which the miner can explore underground. This may be rendered “They dig to the very limit” or “… as far as they can possibly go.”
The ore in gloom and deep darkness: according to the Hebrew punctuation the main division in this verse comes at the end of the second line, but this leaves line c unconnected with the rest of the verse. Accordingly New English Bible and New American Bible omit it. However, better sense is made by making the chief division after the first line, as in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. Ore translates the Hebrew for “stone,” as in verse 2b. In Revised Standard Version search in line b serves also as the verb for line c. Good News Translation, which makes lines b and c separate clauses, supplies “dig” as the verb in line c. Either solution is possible, but Revised Standard Version is closer to the Hebrew form. Gloom and deep darkness translates the same expression used in 10.21. There the expression referred to Sheol. Here it refers to the darkness inside the mine. It may be translated “and dig out the ore in the deep darkness” or “search for the rocks in the darkness.”
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 .