Job 23:3

O that I knew ¹  where I might find him, ²  that I could come ³  to his place of residence! ⁴ 

If only I knew where to find him; if only I could go to his dwelling!

"Oh that I knew where I might find Him, That I might come to His seat!

If only I knew where to find God, I would go to his throne and talk with him there.

If I knew where on earth to find him, I'd go straight to him.

If only I had knowledge of where he might be seen, so that I might come even to his seat!

Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his dwelling!

Oh, that I knew where I might find Him, That I might come to His seat!

O that I knew ¹  where I might find him, ²  that I could come ³  to his place of residence! ⁴ 

¹ tn The optative here is again expressed with the verbal clause, “who will give [that] I knew….”

² tn The form in Hebrew is וְאֶמְצָאֵהוּ (vÿ’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 GKC 386 §120.e). This could also be translated making the second verb a complementary infinitive: “knew how to find him.”

sn H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 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 tn 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 tn 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.