He covers the face of the moon: as the Revised Standard Version footnote indicates, moon is “throne” in the Hebrew text. Moon or “full moon” (Good News Translation) is obtained by a change of vowels in the word for “throne.” Hebrew Old Testament Text Project gives the Hebrew an “A” rating and translates “the front of the throne,” which is accepted by Traduction œcuménique de la Bible and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch. Poetic passages such as Psalm 11.4 and 103.19 speak of God’s throne being in the heavens. God’s throne is likewise associated with the flood in Psalm 29.10, where “flood” may refer to the waters above the firmament of heaven in the diagram on page 181. It is quite natural, therefore, that the sense here can be that God veils his throne with the clouds to conceal himself. Translators can follow Hebrew Old Testament Text Project and use, for example, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch as a model: “In thick clouds he covers his throne.”

And spreads over it his cloud: his cloud is not meant to imply that he has only one cloud, as it would in some languages. The sense is “a cloud” or “clouds.” Verse 9 may also be expressed “He hides his throne by covering it with a cloud” or “He darkens his throne with a cloud.” In languages in which “throne” is unknown, we may say, for example, “He covers the place where he rules, by spreading a cloud over it.”

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 .