From verse 8 to verse 11 the topic is the sea. These four verses form one long sentence in the Hebrew and in Revised Standard Version. By shifting to who Revised Standard Version and others continue the question form as was done in verse 6b. Or who shut in the sea with doors: who shut is literally “and he shut,” which the Septuagint changes to “I shut.” Shut translates the word rendered as “hedge” in 1.10 and 3.23. Doors translates a word referring to the two leaves of a door; that is, a door made of a pair of boards. Doors is used figuratively and refers to the seashore or any natural barrier that keeps the sea from flooding the land. Similar thoughts are expressed in Psalm 104.9; Proverbs 8.29; Jeremiah 5.22. If this poetic image cannot be used, the translator is advised to seek another. If we must translate as prose, the thought may be expressed, for example, “Who stopped the sea from overflowing the land?” or “Who prevented the sea from running over the land?”

When it burst forth from the womb compares the rushing sea to a newborn baby coming out of the womb. The Hebrew does not suggest where the womb is, but Good News Translation assigns it to the earth, “womb of the earth.” Bible en français courant omits the womb image and says “from the depths.” The picture given may suggest the bursting of the waters in child birth, waters in the womb which protect the fetus, or unborn baby. Due to the problem of speaking of the sea as coming from the womb, it may be necessary in many languages to express this line differently; for example, “when the ocean poured out over the earth” or “when the waters of the rivers ran over 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 .