Under the whole heaven he lets it go describes how God makes it thunder and lightning everywhere. Under the whole heaven depicts the extent of the lightning flashes as seen from a human viewpoint on the ground. It in line a most likely refers to the lightning in line b, based on the way pronouns function in Hebrew discourse, and so Good News Translation has “He sends the lightning….” New English Bible and others, however, take it to refer to the thunder of verse 2. Lets … go translates a verb meaning “looses, releases,” and so “sends” in Good News Translation. A verb such as “throws, hurls, casts” is also appropriate.

In English lightning in line b fits best when shifted to line a to replace the pronoun, and if necessary the pronoun may be used in line b. Lightning is literally “light,” as in 36.32. Corners translates a word which means “fringes or borders,” as in the borders of a carpet. The earth is thought of as flat, like a carpet that has four edges, borders, and corners. The expression may be rendered “the ends of the earth,” “from one end of the earth to the other,” or “all across the earth.”

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 .