What Does Job 9:35 Mean?
Then I would speak, and not stand in awe of him; but it is not so 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
Then would I speak, and not fear him; but it is not so with me.THE KEY
The freedom Job longs for is the ability to bring his words before God without fear, even while that freedom is still absent.
THE MEANING
The verse gives language to the gap between wanting to speak honestly to God and feeling safe enough to do it. The fear remains part of the present truth: longing for open speech does not mean that freedom is already here.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Wanting to speak openly does not mean you already feel safe enough to do so; this verse holds the desire and the fear together.
THE ROOT
וַאֲדַבְּרָה
va'adabberah
GROWS FROM
דבר
דָּבַר (dābar) means to speak; דָּבָר (dāvar) means word, matter, or thing.
“speak” in this verse is va'adabberah. The Hebrew word-family joins speaking with the matter being spoken: a word is also a thing or matter. Job wants to bring what is on him into speech before God, but says that openness is not yet his.
ALSO GROWS
dāvar: Word, matter, or thing
דָּבָר
The branch holds speech and its subject together: what Job wants to say is a matter he longs to bring before God.
dibber: Spoke or uttered
דִּבֵּר
This verb form shares the root of Job’s “speak,” keeping the focus on voiced expression rather than silent thought.
אִירָאֶנּוּ
ira'ennu
GROWS FROM
ירא
יָרֵא (yare) means to fear or revere; יִרְאָה (yir’ah) carries the sense of fear or awe.
“not stand in awe of him” in this verse is ira'ennu. The word can hold fear and reverence together, but here Job names fear as the thing that keeps his speech from being free. His longing is not simply to have words; it is to speak without being governed by fear of God.
ALSO GROWS
yir'ah: Fear or awe
יִרְאָה
This noun shares the root of “fear him” and shows the range between dread and reverence carried by the word-family.
mora: Dread or awe
מוֹרָא
This related form makes the weight of fear visible, the presence before whom Job longs to speak without shrinking back.
THE PATTERN
Scripture gives voice to the desire for unafraid speech and names bold access as possible even under pressure.
I speak of your witnesses in sight of kings, and I am not put to shame.And now, LORD, look upon their threats, and give your servants to speak your word with all boldness.Let us therefore draw near, with open speech, to the throne of favor, that we may receive compassion, and find favor to help in the right moment.THE THREAD
Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to argue with God.The Hebrew word-family דָּבַר (dābar, “speak”) appears in both verses. Job 9:35 holds the desire to speak alongside fear; Job 13:3 makes that desire to address God directly explicit.
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