For to the snow he says, ‘Fall on the earth’ depicts God as commanding the snow to fall. Revised Standard Version and others use direct address, although Good News Translation prefers the indirect form. Translators should use the form that is most natural in the receptor language. Fall translates a verb which has the meaning “to be” but is used here in its Aramaic form, and it is used similarly in Arabic. This line may be expressed “God says to the snow, ‘Fall down to earth,’ ” or “God orders the snow, ‘Snow on the earth.’ ” Translated indirectly it can be “God orders the snow to fall on the ground.” Since the snow can only fall earthward, it is sufficient to say, for example, “God orders the snow to fall” or “God orders it to snow.” In languages where snow is unknown, it may be necessary to use a borrowed word or to substitute something like frost, hail, or mist.

And to the shower and the rain, ‘Be strong’ is literally “shower of rain and shower of rains of his strength.” Revised Standard Version gives the literal form in its footnote and adjusts the translation as shown. Syriac omits the second of these expressions, “shower of rains,” and three Hebrew manuscripts omit the first expression but keep the second one. Dhorme takes these expressions to be redundant and translates “torrential rains.” Good News Translation follows this with “torrents of drenching rain.” Be strong is obtained by changing the Hebrew vowels for “of his strength.” This gives a parallel to the command in line a. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates the parallel lines “To the snow he commands: ‘Fall downward to the ground!’ To the rain clouds he says: ‘Let it pour!’ ” This provides a translation model that can be adapted.

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 .