From whose womb did the ice come forth…? shifts the imagery to the mother, and Good News Translation asks “Who is the mother of the ice?” Come forth is the same term that was used in 1.21; 3.11. The word translated as womb is literally “belly.” Ice translates a word which is sometimes rendered appropriately as “hail,” but due to verse 30 it is best understood here as ice, as in 6.16; 37.10.

In the second line the word translated as given birth has the same root as the verb in the causative form in verse 28b, which is rendered as “begotten” and applied to the father. Here it refers to the mother’s act of giving birth. Hoarfrost refers to dew on the ground which freezes hard on cold, clear nights. Like the snow, the hoarfrost is sent from heaven by God, as in Psalm 147.16, “he scatters the hoarfrost like ashes.” By reducing the two lines in verse 28 and the two lines in verse 29, Good News Translation has created a parallelism between these two verses. However, unless there are linguistic reasons for avoiding the parallel lines in these two verses, they should be kept. Verse 29 may require adjustments in translation similar to those in verse 28. For example, “Did a mother give birth to the ice? No.” “Does the ice have a mother as a child does? Of course not.”

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 .