Fertility among livestock was considered a sign of God’s blessing (Deut 28.11; Psa 144.13). Their bull breeds without fail: the Hebrew has “his bull,” referring to any bull owned by the wicked person. The bull of the wicked man succeeds in fertilizing the cow at every attempt, and so the owner prospers. Although both bull and cow are singular, the sense is collective and some translators shift to the plural. The first half of each line in this verse is positive and the second half negative, giving a poetic balance to the verse. Good News Translation reduces bull in line a and cow in line b to “their cattle,” which has the effect of blurring the male and female contributions to the act of procreation. The language is starkly simple, but New English Bible has made it pompous: “Their bull mounts and fails not in its purpose.” Breeds translates a verb meaning to mount a female animal in mating. In Hebrew no object is expressed since the cow is mentioned in line b. The negative verb translated without fail refers to successful mating each time. The line may be rendered “Every time the bull mates with a cow, she gets pregnant,” or “Each time the bull is put with the cows, all the cows conceive,” or “The bull and the cow mate successfully every time.”

Their cow calves, and does not cast her calf is also expressed “the cows of the wicked have their calves without miscarriage” or “their cows give birth and never miscarry.”

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 .