What Does Job 15:25 Mean?
For he stretches out his hand against God, and braces himself against the Almighty.
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
For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty.THE KEY
The Hebrew verb reveals the struggle beneath the posture: the self is trying to make itself strong enough to prevail against God.
THE MEANING
The verse exposes defiance as more than disagreement: the self reaches toward God in opposition and tries to become its own source of prevailing power. That posture is still legible now wherever strength is treated as enough to place the self beyond God’s claim.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that gathered strength can make the self ultimate or place it beyond God.
THE ROOT
יִתְגַּבֵּר
yitgabber
GROWS FROM
גבר
g-b-r
Be strong; prevail; prove mighty.
“braces himself” in this verse is yitgabber. This reflexive verb describes more than possessing strength: it is making oneself strong, asserting oneself as the one who will prevail. The same root names might and the mighty one, so the verse presents a claim to prevailing power set against God.
ALSO GROWS
gibbôr: Mighty one, warrior.
גִּבּוֹר
This is strength embodied in one who can prevail, sharpening the force the man is trying to claim for himself.
gevûrāh: Might, power.
גְּבוּרָה
This names the power itself, making the verse’s conflict a claim over who holds prevailing strength.
THE PATTERN
The self that tries to exalt its strength above God turns that strength into opposition and meets God’s resistance.
The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers sit down together against the LORD and against his anointed one, saying,I will go up over the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High.But he gives greater favor. Therefore it says, God sets himself against those who lift themselves high, and gives favor to those made low.THE THREAD
For his faithful love grows mighty over us, and the truth of the LORD endures for the ages. Praise the LORD!The Hebrew verb behind “is great” is גָּבַר (gābar, prevailed), from the same root as “strengtheneth himself.” Job shows a person trying to make himself prevail against God; the psalm says faithful love prevails toward us. The shared root turns attention to the direction of strength.
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