Job 29:2

2 “O that I could be ^{▼▼ The optative is here expressed with מִי־יִתְּנֵנִי (mi-yitt^eneni, “who will give me”), meaning, “O that I [could be]…” (see GKC 477 #151.b).} as ^{▼▼ The preposition כּ (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, ^{▼▼ 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 ^{▼▼ 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 ^{▼▼ The imperfect verb here has a customary nuance – “when God would watch over me” (back then), or “when God used to watch over me.”} over me,