Job 29:2

NETBible

“O that I could be 1  as 2  I was in the months now gone, 3  in the days 4  when God watched 5  over me,

NIV ©

"How I long for the months gone by, for the days when God watched over me,

NASB ©

"Oh that I were as in months gone by, As in the days when God watched over me;

NLT ©

"I long for the years gone by when God took care of me,

MSG ©

"Oh, how I long for the good old days, when God took such very good care of me.

BBE ©

If only I might again be as I was in the months which are past, in the days when God was watching over me!

NRSV ©

"Oh, that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me;

NKJV ©

Oh, that I were as in months past, As in the days when God watched over me;

KJV
Oh that
<05414> (8799)
I were as [in] months
<03391>
past
<06924>_,
as [in] the days
<03117>
[when] God
<0433>
preserved
<08104> (8799)
me;
NASB ©
"Oh
<4310>
<5414> that I were as in months
<3391>
gone
<6924>
by, As in the days
<3117>
when God
<433>
watched
<8104>
over me;
LXXM
tiv
<5100> 
I-NSM
an
<302> 
PRT
me
<1473> 
P-AS
yeih
<5087> 
V-AAO-3S
kata
<2596> 
PREP
mhna
<3303> 
N-ASM
emprosyen
<1715> 
PREP
hmerwn
<2250> 
N-GPF
wn
<3739> 
R-GPF
me
<1473> 
P-AS
o
<3588> 
T-NSM
yeov
<2316> 
N-NSM
efulaxen
<5442> 
V-AAI-3S
NET [draft] ITL
“O that I could be
<05414>

<04310>
as I was in the months
<03391>
now gone
<06924>
, in the days
<03117>
when God
<0433>
watched over
<08104>
me,
HEBREW
ynrmsy
<08104>
hwla
<0433>
ymyk
<03117>
Mdq
<06924>
yxryk
<03391>
ynnty
<05414>
ym (29:2)
<04310>
NETBible

“O that I could be 1  as 2  I was in the months now gone, 3  in the days 4  when God watched 5  over me,

NET Notes

1 tn The optative is here expressed with מִי־יִתְּנֵנִי (mi-yittÿneni, “who will give me”), meaning, “O that I [could be]…” (see GKC 477 §151.b).

2 tn The preposition כּ (kaf) is used here in an expression describing the state desired, especially in the former time (see GKC 376 §118.u).

3 tn The expression is literally “months of before [or of old; or past].” The word קֶדֶם (qedem) is intended here to be temporal and not spatial; it means days that preceded the present.

4 tn The construct state (“days of”) governs the independent sentence that follows (see GKC 422 §130.d): “as the days of […] God used to watch over me.”

5 tn The imperfect verb here has a customary nuance – “when God would watch over me” (back then), or “when God used to watch over me.”