What Does Job 36:17 Mean?
But you have filled the judgment of the wicked; judgment and justice grasp you.
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
But thou hast fulfilled the judgment of the wicked: judgment and justice take hold on thee.THE KEY
Hebrew repeats one word where English says “judgment and justice,” then uses a verb that can mean both to take hold and to uphold.
THE MEANING
Judgment is not a detached idea here: it takes hold of the person it concerns. The verb can also describe being upheld, so the image carries a hard double edge, consequence can grip, and support can sustain.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Justice is only an abstract principle, safely separate from the person it concerns.
THE ROOT
יִתְמֹכוּךָ
yitmokhukha
GROWS FROM
תמך
t-m-k
to hold, support, or sustain
“grasp” in this verse is yitmokhukha. The verb translated “take hold” comes from a root that also means to uphold or support. The same Hebrew root appears where Isaiah says “I will uphold thee,” leaving both the grip of judgment and the strength of support inside the word.
ALSO GROWS
tamak: to hold, support, or sustain
תָּמַךְ
Its range shows that “take hold” can carry the sense of support as well as grasp.
temakhtikha: “I will uphold you” (Isaiah 41:10)
תְּמַכְתִּיךָ
The same root explicitly describes being upheld, bringing its sustaining sense into view.
tamakhta bi: “You uphold me” (Psalm 41:12)
תָּמַכְתָּ בִּי
Here the same root describes a person being held in support.
דִּין וָדִּין
din va-din
GROWS FROM
דין
d-y-n
to judge or decide a case
The Hebrew phrase repeats דִּין (din, “judgment”) where the KJV gives “judgment and justice.” The repetition ties both English terms to one word, rather than presenting two separate forces.
ALSO GROWS
din: judgment or a legal case
דִּין
This is the noun repeated in the phrase translated “judgment and justice.”
dan: “he judged”; the name Dan is linked to “God hath judged me” (Genesis 30:6)
דָּן
The related form turns judgment from an abstract noun into an act that touches a person.
yadin: “he will judge” (Genesis 49:16)
יָדִין
This verb form shows the same root in motion: judgment being carried out.
THE PATTERN
Scripture uses the language of being held for both the grip of judgment and the support that keeps a life standing.
Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not look about in dismay, for I am your God. I will grip you, and I will help you, and I will hold you up with the right hand of my alignment.And as for me, in my wholeness you hold me fast, and you station me before your face for the ages.Who, being the radiance of his weight and the exact stamp of his foundation, carrying all things by the word of his power, when he had made the cleansing of shortcomings, sat down at the right hand of the Greatness on high.THE THREAD
Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not look about in dismay, for I am your God. I will grip you, and I will help you, and I will hold you up with the right hand of my alignment.Job’s “take hold” and Isaiah’s “uphold” share the Hebrew root תמך (tamak, “to hold or support”). Isaiah makes the sustaining sense clear inside a word Job uses in the hard setting of judgment, while Job’s force remains intact.
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