Logos Bible Study

Job 23:3

The NET BibleOther versions

English

Arabic

Czech

French

German

Hebrew

Hungarian

Italian

Korean

Latin

Portuguese

Russian

Simplified Chinese

Spanish

Traditional Chinese

23:3O that I knew4 where I might find him,5

that I could come6 to his place of residence!7

Read in Logos

Footnotes

  1. 4 The optative here is again expressed with the verbal clause, “who will give [that] I knew.…”
  2. 5 The form in Hebrew is וְאֶמְצָאֵהוּ (vé’emtsa’ehu), simply “and I will find him.” But in the optative clause this verb is subordinated to the preceding verb: “O that I knew where [and] I might find him.” It is not unusual to have the perfect verb followed by the imperfect in such coordinate clauses (see §120.e). This could also be translated making the second verb a complementary infinitive: “knew how to find him.” H. H. Rowley (Job [], 159) quotes Strahan without reference: “It is the chief distinction between Job and his friends that he desires to meet God and they do not.”
  3. 6 This verb also depends on מִי־יִתֵּן (mi-yitten, “who will give”) of the first part, forming an additional clause in the wish formula.
  4. 7 Or “his place of judgment.” The word is from כּוּן (kun, “to prepare; to arrange”) in the Polel and the Hiphil conjugations. The noun refers to a prepared place, a throne, a seat, or a sanctuary. A. B. Davidson (Job, 169) and others take the word to mean “judgment seat” or “tribunal” in this context.

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

Oh, that I knew where I might find him,

that I might come even to his seat!

NIVNew International Version (2011)

If only I knew where to find him;

if only I could go to his dwelling!

CSBChristian Standard Bible

If only I knew how to find him,

so that I could go to his throne.

NLTNew Living Translation

If only I knew where to find God,

I would go to his court.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

O that I knew and that I might find him;

O that I might come to his dwelling.

KJV 1900King James Version

Oh that I knew where I might find him!

That I might come even to his seat!