What Does Job 15:17 Mean?
I show you; hear and respond to me. What I have seen, I recount.
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 shew thee, hear me; and that which I have seen I will declare;THE KEY
The Hebrew word translated “declare” also means “recount”: what is seen becomes an account another person can hear.
THE MEANING
When a witness speaks to you, this verse holds the whole exchange in view: what is seen becomes an account, and that account asks to be heard. Seeing and hearing are distinct parts of how testimony reaches you.
THE ROOT
וַאֲסַפֵּרָה
waʾasapperah
GROWS FROM
ספר
To count, recount, or tell.
“recount” in this verse is waʾasapperah. The verb translated “declare” comes from ספר, a root that carries the sense of recounting as well as telling. Its branches include סֵפֶר, a book, and סוֹפֵר, a scribe: what is seen is given an account that can travel beyond the moment.
ALSO GROWS
sēfer: Book or scroll.
סֵפֶר
The same consonants turn recounting into a written account that can be read.
sōfer: Scribe.
סוֹפֵר
The scribe gives an account lasting form, linking spoken testimony with its record.
mispar: Number or count.
מִסְפָּר
This branch keeps the root’s sense of counting, giving a report the shape of an ordered account.
שְׁמַע
shemaʿ
GROWS FROM
שמע
To hear, listen, or heed.
“hear and respond to me” in this verse is shemaʿ. The imperative “hear me” comes from the same root as words for a report or news. The verse places listening on the receiving side of testimony: an account is spoken toward someone who can hear it.
ALSO GROWS
shemuʿah: Report or news.
שְׁמוּעָה
A report is something heard, directly linking the speaker’s account with its reception.
shomeaʿ: One who hears or listens.
שֹׁמֵעַ
This participle names the person addressed by “hear me.”
חָזִיתִי
ḥaziti
GROWS FROM
חזה
To see, behold, or envision.
The verse distinguishes the sight itself from the account made of it: “I have seen” is followed by “I will declare.” This root also gives words for a seer and a vision, keeping the act of seeing connected to what is perceived.
ALSO GROWS
ḥozeh: Seer or one who beholds.
חֹזֶה
The same consonants describe the one whose seeing grounds the testimony.
maḥazeh: Vision or spectacle.
מַחֲזֶה
This branch names what is seen, connecting perception with the experience later recounted.
THE PATTERN
Witness moves from what is seen, through an account, to a hearer.
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The heavens recount the weight of God; and the expanse sets forth the work of his hands.That which we have perceived and heard, we declare to you, so that you also may share in common with us. And truly our sharing in common is with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus, the Anointed One.The one who returns a word before he hears it, folly and shame are his.THE THREAD
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The heavens recount the weight of God; and the expanse sets forth the work of his hands.The Hebrew word translated “declare” in both verses comes from ספר, the root of recounting and telling. Job’s speaker recounts what he has seen; the heavens, too, give an account of what is before them.
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