He makes his tail stiff like a cedar: stiff translates a word found only here, and so the meaning is uncertain. Another verb root that gives the same form as used here means to make stiff, and this is followed by Revised Standard Version. This has sometimes been taken to mean “make erect,” and so Good News Translation “stands up like a cedar.” BDB and K-B suggest “bend down.” This may refer to the long branches of the cedar tree extending out and downward, in which case the beast may be thought of as having a long, sloping tail. Cedar refers to a type of evergreen tree known from Lebanon as a majestic tree with durable wood. Any large tree whose wood is used for construction may be used. If the translator has chosen to translate “Behemoth” as “hippopotamus,” the translation of verse 17a should be suitable for that animal. If “Behemoth” is rendered by a descriptive phrase or by transliteration, it will not matter greatly which of the comparisons with the cedar tree are chosen. In the first case one may say, for example, “His tail is stiff as…” or “His tail is hard as….”

Sinews are tendons that join the muscles to the bone, but these are not visible as are the muscles. Therefore it is better to follow Good News Translation and to translate “muscles.”

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 .