OET interlinear JOB 30:2

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / rquestion

כֹּ֣חַ יְ֭דֵי⁠הֶם לָ֣⁠מָּה לִּ֑⁠י

ability hands,their to/for=what to/for=me

Job is using the question form for emphasis. If you would not use the question form for that purpose in your language, you could translate this as a statement or as an exclamation. Alternate translation: “I have no use for the strength of their hands!” or “the strength of their hands is useless to me!”

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / synecdoche

כֹּ֣חַ יְ֭דֵי⁠הֶם לָ֣⁠מָּה לִּ֑⁠י

ability hands,their to/for=what to/for=me

Job is using one part of these young men, their hands, to mean all of them in the act of using strength to work. As the rest of the verse indicates, these young men have only feeble strength. If it would be helpful in your language, you could state the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: “I have no use for their feeble strength!” or “their feeble strength is useless to me!”

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / personification

עָ֝לֵ֗י⁠מוֹ אָ֣בַד כָּֽלַח

from,them gone Kalah

Job is speaking of old age as if it were a living thing that has perished in these young men. Eliphaz uses the same term for “old age” in 5:26. There it means the maturity and accomplishment that come from a long life well lived. Here the term seems to indicate the vigor that someone would have in his youth that would enable him to live such a long life. If it would be helpful in your language, you could state the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: “They have lost the vigor that would have enabled them to live a long life” or “They have lost their youthful vigor”

Note 4 topic: writing-pronouns

עָ֝לֵ֗י⁠מוֹ

from,them

As the General Notes to this chapter discuss, the pronoun them refers to the young men who now treat Job disrespectfully, as do the pronouns “they,” “them,” and “their” in verses 4–10. It may be helpful to clarify this for your readers. Alternate translation: “In these young men”