What Does Job 5:27 Mean?
Look, this we search out, and so it is. Hear it and respond, and perceive it for yourself.
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
Lo this, we have searched it, so it is; hear it, and know thou it for thy good.THE KEY
The turn from “we have searched” to “you know” makes this more than a verdict: the claim is placed before you to become personal knowledge.
THE MEANING
The voice presents a conclusion as carefully searched, then places it before you to hear and know personally. Its final phrase, לָךְ (lāk, “for you” or “for yourself”), makes the benefit of knowing personal.
THE ROOT
חֲקַרְנוּהָ
ḥăqarənūhā
GROWS FROM
חקר
ḥ-q-r
To search, investigate, or examine closely.
“search out” in this verse is ḥăqarənūhā. The claim rests on inquiry: “we have searched it.” Yet this same root can also describe what lies beyond searching, leaving the certainty of the conclusion beside a question about the limits of examination.
ALSO GROWS
ḥēqer: Search, inquiry, investigation.
חֵקֶר
The root can name the inquiry itself, linking the act of searching to the conclusion that follows.
ḥāqar: To search out or examine.
חָקַר
This verb makes the passage’s claim an act of investigation, not simply an opinion.
שְׁמָעֶנָּה
šĕmaʿennāh
GROWS FROM
שמע
š-m-ʿ
To hear, listen, and heed.
“hear and respond” in this verse is šĕmaʿennāh. The command to hear carries the sense of attentive listening, not just receiving sound. The verse moves from another person’s report toward your own active reception of it.
ALSO GROWS
šāmaʿ: To hear, listen, or heed.
שָׁמַע
This is the root’s central verb: the claim calls for an engaged listener.
šĕmūʿāh: A report, news, or something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
This noun shows how hearing can begin with a report; the verse then carries that report toward personal knowing.
דַּע
daʿ
GROWS FROM
ידע
y-d-ʿ
To know, recognize, or perceive.
“perceive” in this verse is daʿ. The command is not merely to retain information but to arrive at personal recognition. Beside לָךְ (lāk, “for you”), the knowing becomes something with meaning in the hearer’s own life.
ALSO GROWS
yādaʿ: To know, recognize, or perceive.
יָדַע
This root connects knowing with recognition, giving the command a personal depth beyond memorizing a statement.
daʿat: Knowledge or understanding.
דַּעַת
The noun names the understanding toward which the passage’s movement from hearing is directed.
THE PATTERN
A word moves from inquiry and hearing toward knowledge that becomes personal.
The heart of the discerning takes hold of knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.O taste and see that the LORD is good. Flourishing is the strong one who takes shelter in him.My sheep hear and respond to my voice, and I perceive them, and they follow me.THE THREAD
Who does great things beyond searching, and wonders without number.“Unsearchable” translates אֵין חֵקֶר (ʾēn ḥēqer, “no searching”), from the same חקר root as “we have searched it.” In the same chapter, what exceeds searching stands beside a conclusion presented as settled, exposing a tension between wonder and certainty.
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