What Does Job 1:5 Mean?
And it was so, when the days of their drinking had come around, that Job sent for them and set them apart, and rose up early in the morning, and lifted up burnt offerings according to the number of them all, for Job said, It may be that my sons have missed the mark and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.THE KEY
The Hebrew calls what Job fears “blessing”, a euphemism for cursing, so the verse exposes how a heart can turn the language of reverence inside out.
THE MEANING
Here, the heart is not hidden from consequence just because it is hidden from view: someone may turn against God inwardly while the feast still looks whole. The Hebrew word rendered “cursed” is literally the word for “blessed,” a euphemism that lets the fear surface through its opposite. Job’s repeated offering answers uncertainty about the inner life; it does not make that life visible.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Visible religious celebration does not prove inward reverence; the verse leaves room for a heart whose hidden posture contradicts the feast.
THE ROOT
וּבֵרֲכוּ
ūḇērăḵû
GROWS FROM
ברך
b-r-k
Bless; in Job, this form is used euphemistically to mean curse.
The word translated “cursed” is literally the word for “blessed.” Job uses it euphemistically, so the startling connection is not that blessing and cursing are identical, but that the word of reverence can stand in for its opposite when the heart turns against God.
ALSO GROWS
bārakh: to bless
בָּרַךְ
This is the ordinary verb whose form appears in Job’s euphemism; its positive sense makes the verse’s inversion visible.
berākhāh: blessing
בְּרָכָה
This noun shows the same root’s usual field of meaning, clarifying the contrast between blessing-language and the hostility Job fears.
חָטְאוּ
ḥāṭəʾû
GROWS FROM
חטא
ḥ-ṭ-ʾ
To miss, fail, or incur guilt.
“missed the mark” in this verse is ḥāṭəʾû. The root carries the sense of missing or failing, rather than naming only a vague stain. With the words “in their hearts,” the verse locates the feared failure in the unseen inner life.
ALSO GROWS
ḥēṭ: missing, sin
חֵטְא
This noun carries the same root into the name for the failure Job fears his sons may hold inwardly.
ḥaṭṭāʾt: sin; an offering for sin
חַטָּאת
This related word connects failure with the offering made in response, placing the inward fear beside Job’s outward ritual.
וַיְקַדְּשֵׁם
wayqaddēshēm
GROWS FROM
קדש
q-d-sh
To set apart or dedicate as sacred.
“set apart” in this verse is wayqaddēshēm. The root points to setting apart, not merely to a general idea of goodness. Its branches include both the set-apart and the sanctuary, so Job’s response frames his concern as something given sacred attention.
ALSO GROWS
qādōsh: set apart, sacred
קָדוֹשׁ
This adjective shares the root and makes the force of Job’s act of setting his children apart clearer.
miqdāsh: sanctuary, sacred place
מִקְדָּשׁ
The sanctuary grows from the same root, connecting setting apart with a space dedicated to the sacred.
THE PATTERN
What is hidden in the heart remains consequential and can surface in speech.
Let the words of my mouth be received, and the murmur of my heart before your face. O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.A good human brings out good from the good treasure of the heart, and an evil human brings out evil from the evil treasure of the heart, for from the overflow of the heart his mouth speaks.THE THREAD
But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.The word rendered “curse” here is again ברך (barak), the Hebrew verb meaning “bless.” In verse 5 the euphemism names what Job fears may be hidden in his sons’ hearts; here it names the Adversary’s prediction of Job’s response, carrying the same word from inward possibility to spoken accusation.
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