Verse 25 has three lines, as in Revised Standard Version. When the trumpet sounds, he says depicts the horse as a human speaker. When translates a phrase meaning “As often as” or “Whenever.” Trumpet is the same word used in verse 24. In Revised Standard Version the horse says, Aha, which in Hebrew resembles the sound a person makes when discovering something joyful, he-ach. Aha may come close to the Hebrew expression if the horse is to speak English, but Good News Translation is more realistic, with “at each blast of the trumpet they snort.” New Jerusalem Bible translates “he neighs exultantly.” Neighing refers to the sounds a horse makes. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy says “At the sound of the trumpet he answers by neighing.”

He smells the battle from afar means he picks up the scent of, or detects, the enemy troops and their horses from a great distance. The thunder of the captains … may also be the object of smells in the previous line. Smells may be used poetically in a wider meaning such as “recognizes, is aware of.” Bible en français courant translates “discerns” in line b and applies it by implication to line c. Good News Translation supplies the verb “hear” in line c, and this is probably the best thing to do in translation. In line c thunder translates the same word used in 26.14, and refers to the commands and instructions being shouted to the soldiers by their leaders. The shouting is most probably an extension of the noise made by the officers, and so Good News Translation has combined thunder and shouting into “officers shouting commands.” Translators may wish to rearrange the order of lines in verse 25 to begin with line b: “He smells the battle in the air while still a long way off. He senses the leaders shouting out commands to the soldiers, and when the trumpet calls he snorts.”

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 .