Job 29:2 | NET2full | STEP | “ O that I could be as I was in the months now gone , in the days when God watched over me,

‏ Job 29:2

2 “O that I could be ^{▼▼tn The optative is here expressed with מִי־יִתְּנֵנִי (mi yitteneni, “who will give me”), meaning, “O that I [could be]…” (see GKC 477 §151.b).} as ^{▼▼tn The preposition כ (kaf) is used here in an expression describing the state desired, especially in the former time (see GKC 376 §118.u).} I was
in the months now gone, ^{▼▼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.}
in the days ^{▼▼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.”} when God watched over ^{▼▼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.”} me,