OET interlinear JDG 9:9

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / quotesinquotes

וַ⁠יֹּ֤אמֶר לָ⁠הֶם֙ הַ⁠זַּ֔יִת הֶ⁠חֳדַ֨לְתִּי֙ אֶת־דִּשְׁנִ֔⁠י אֲשֶׁר־בִּ֛⁠י יְכַבְּד֥וּ אֱלֹהִ֖ים וַ⁠אֲנָשִׁ֑ים וְ⁠הָ֣לַכְתִּ֔י לָ⁠נ֖וּעַ עַל־הָ⁠עֵצִֽים

and=he/it_said to/for=them the,olive_tree the,leave DOM oil,my which/who in/on/at/with,me honoured ʼElohīm and,men and,go to,sway on/upon/above/on_account_of//he/it_went_in the,trees

If it would be clearer in your language, you could translate this so that there is not a quotation within a quotation. Alternate translation: “But the olive tree asked them whether it should discontinue its fatness, by which they honor gods and men, in order to go wave over the trees.”

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / rquestion

הֶ⁠חֳדַ֨לְתִּי֙ אֶת־דִּשְׁנִ֔⁠י אֲשֶׁר־בִּ֛⁠י יְכַבְּד֥וּ אֱלֹהִ֖ים וַ⁠אֲנָשִׁ֑ים וְ⁠הָ֣לַכְתִּ֔י לָ⁠נ֖וּעַ עַל־הָ⁠עֵצִֽים

the,leave DOM oil,my which/who in/on/at/with,me honoured ʼElohīm and,men and,go to,sway on/upon/above/on_account_of//he/it_went_in the,trees

The olive tree in the story is using the question form for emphasis. If a speaker of your language would not use the question form for that purpose, you could translate this as a statement or as an exclamation. Alternate translation: “I am not going to discontinue my fatness, by which they honor gods and men, in order to go wave over the trees!”

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns

הֶ⁠חֳדַ֨לְתִּי֙ אֶת־דִּשְׁנִ֔⁠י

the,leave DOM oil,my

If your language does not use an abstract noun for the idea of fatness, you could express the same idea in another way. The tree is referring specifically to the oil that is made from its olives. Alternate translation: “Should I stop producing oil”

Note 4 topic: writing-pronouns

אֲשֶׁר־בִּ֛⁠י יְכַבְּד֥וּ אֱלֹהִ֖ים וַ⁠אֲנָשִׁ֑ים

which/who in/on/at/with,me honoured ʼElohīm and,men

Here, they is an indefinite pronoun that does not have a specific referent in the immediate context. If it would be helpful in your language, you could translate this with a different expression that does not use an indefinite pronoun. Alternate translation: “by which gods and men are honored”

Note 5 topic: translate-plural

אֱלֹהִ֖ים

ʼElohīm

The word translated as gods is plural in form, but it could mean either: (1) gods, as in the ULT. (2) God. Alternate translation: “God”

Note 6 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

וְ⁠הָ֣לַכְתִּ֔י לָ⁠נ֖וּעַ עַל־הָ⁠עֵצִֽים

and,go to,sway on/upon/above/on_account_of//he/it_went_in the,trees

The olive tree is using the term wave to suggest implicitly that being a king over the other trees would not be as worthwhile or productive as continuing to make olives for oil. Trees stay rooted in the ground, so the olive tree is using the word wave, meaning to sway back and forth in the wind, to represent how kings go around taking care of various official matters. You could indicate this explicitly in your translation if that would be helpful to your readers. The UST models one way to do this.