OET interlinear JOB 42:4

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / quotesinquotes

שְֽׁמַֽע־נָ֭א וְ⁠אָנֹכִ֣י אֲדַבֵּ֑ר אֶ֝שְׁאָלְ⁠ךָ֗ וְ⁠הוֹדִיעֵֽ⁠נִי

(Some words not found in UHB: hear now and,I speak I,will_ask_you and,make,known_to_me )

In this verse, Job is once again quoting what Yahweh said in his speech. In 38:3 and 40:7, Yahweh said, “I will question you, and you will inform me.” Since Job had said in 13:22 that he could choose either to ask questions first or to listen to questions first, by saying that he would question Job, Yahweh was implicitly telling Job to listen, as Job indicates in the first part of this verse. The ULT indicates that Job is quoting Yahweh by putting this verse in second-level quotation marks. If it would be clearer in your language, you could translate this so that there is not a quotation within a quotation. Alternate translation: [You told me to listen and you would speak; you said that you would question me and I would inform you]