OET interlinear JOB 3:5

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / doublet

יִגְאָלֻ֡⁠הוּ חֹ֣שֶׁךְ וְ֭⁠צַלְמָוֶת

claim,it darkness and,deep_shadow

The terms darkness and dark shadow mean similar things. The author is using the two terms together for emphasis. If it would be clearer for your readers, you could express the emphasis with a single phrase. Alternate translation: “May darkness completely claim it”

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

יִגְאָלֻ֡⁠הוּ חֹ֣שֶׁךְ וְ֭⁠צַלְמָוֶת

claim,it darkness and,deep_shadow

Job assumes that his listeners will understand that by claim he is referring to the way, in his culture, a close relative would bring an orphaned child into his own home and make that child a member of his own family. You could say that explicitly if that would be helpful to your readers. Alternate translation: “May darkness and deep darkness make it part of their own family”

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / personification

יִגְאָלֻ֡⁠הוּ חֹ֣שֶׁךְ וְ֭⁠צַלְמָוֶת

claim,it darkness and,deep_shadow

Job is speaking as if darkness and a dark shadow were living things that could adopt the day of his birth, as if it too were a living thing. If it would be helpful in your language, you could state the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: “May that day be just like darkness, yes, like deep darkness”

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / personification

תִּשְׁכָּן־עָלָ֣י⁠ו עֲנָנָ֑ה

settle on/upon/above=him/it cloud

Job is speaking of a cloud as if it were a living thing that could dwell or make its home over the day of his birth, and he is speaking of that day as if it were something that itself lived in a particular place. If it would be helpful in your language, you could state the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: “may that whole day be cloudy”

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / possession

כִּֽמְרִ֥ירֵי יֽוֹם

blackness day

In this possessive form, the day is the object rather than the subject of blacknesses. That is, this does not mean blacknesses that the day possesses, it means all the things that blacken a day, that is, make it dark. This would include things such as eclipses, sand storms, volcanic eruptions, etc. Alternate translation: “all the things that blacken a day” or “all the things that make a day dark”

Note 6 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns

כִּֽמְרִ֥ירֵי יֽוֹם

blackness day

If your language would not use an abstract noun such as blacknesses, you could express the same idea in another way. Alternate translation: “all the things that blacken a day” or “all the things that make a day dark”

Note 7 topic: figures-of-speech / personification

יְ֝בַעֲתֻ֗⁠הוּ

terrify,it

Job is speaking of the day of his birth as if it were a living thing that blackening events could terrify. If it would be helpful to your readers, you could state the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: “make it so dark that it is no longer truly a day”