His sneezings flash forth light describes the effect of Leviathan’s sneezing. Ancient writers observed that when the crocodile sneezed, tiny drops of water that sprayed the air caused the light to sparkle. His sneezings translates a word found nowhere else in the Old Testament, but is clearly related to the Aramaic and Arabic verbs with the same meaning. The Hebrew word ʿatisha resembles the sound made by a sneeze.

His eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn follows the same comparison used of the rising sun in 3.9, and so Leviathan’s eyes are “like the rising sun,” as in Good News Translation. The whole verse may be rendered “When he sneezes the light sparkles, and his eyes are red as the rising sun.”

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 .