What Does Job 10:2 Mean?
I say to God, Do not pronounce me wicked; make me know why you contend with me.
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
I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me.THE KEY
Job asks for more than acquittal: he asks for the hidden grounds of the dispute to be made known.
THE MEANING
The verse gives you language for feeling opposed while not seeing why. It joins a plea against being declared guilty with a request for the grounds of the dispute to become known. The address to God stays direct even while the reason remains hidden.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that asking God directly why you are under judgment is itself a breach of trust.
THE ROOT
הוֹדִיעֵנִי
hōdîʿēnî
GROWS FROM
יָדַע
yādaʿ
To know or perceive; in this causative form, to make known.
The Hebrew says, in effect, “make me know,” where the English says “shew me.” The plea is for the reason behind the dispute to become something understood, not merely a sign to look at.
ALSO GROWS
yādaʿ: To know or perceive.
יָדַע
The root ties the request to knowing, carrying more than simply seeing an explanation.
daʿat: Knowledge or understanding.
דַּעַת
This noun from the same root echoes the speaker’s desire for the dispute to be intelligible.
תְּרִיבֵנִי
tərîvēnî
GROWS FROM
רִיב
rîv
To contend, dispute, or bring a case against someone.
“contend” in this verse is tərîvēnî. The word for contending can carry the shape of a dispute or case. The speaker is asking not only why there is conflict, but what the case against him is.
ALSO GROWS
rîv: A dispute, quarrel, or case of contention.
רִיב
This noun shows that the verb can describe a conflict with grounds to be heard.
mərîvāh: Strife or contention.
מְרִיבָה
This related word makes the relational conflict in “contendest with me” audible in the same root family.
תַּרְשִׁיעֵנִי
tarshîʿēnî
GROWS FROM
רָשַׁע
rāshaʿ
To be wicked or guilty; in this causative form, to declare someone guilty or condemn.
“pronounce me wicked” in this verse is tarshîʿēnî. The root links condemnation with the status of being wicked or guilty. Beside the request to know the grounds of the dispute, the plea asks both not to be branded guilty and to be shown the case being brought.
ALSO GROWS
rāshāʿ: A wicked or guilty person.
רָשָׁע
This noun shows the charged status at stake in the plea against condemnation.
rishʿāh: Wickedness or guilt.
רִשְׁעָה
This related noun makes the moral weight carried by “condemn” visible in the root family.
THE PATTERN
When judgment feels opaque, the plea is for God to examine and make its grounds known.
How many are my crookednesses and shortcomings? Make known to me my rebellion and my falling short.Examine me, O LORD, and test me; refine my kidneys and my heart.Probe me, O God, and perceive my heart; test me, and perceive my burning thoughts.THE THREAD
How many are my crookednesses and shortcomings? Make known to me my rebellion and my falling short.“Make me to know” repeats the same Hebrew root, יָדַע (yādaʿ), meaning “know” or “perceive.” Job 13:23 sharpens the request in Job 10:2: the speaker wants the charges brought into view, not left as an unexplained dispute.
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