What Does Job 1:11 Mean in the King James?
But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verb rendered “curse” is יְבָרֲכֶךָ (yevārəkhekha), literally “he will bless you”: the accuser predicts that loss will make blessing turn into its opposite.
THE MEANING
The accusation asks God to send his hand against everything you possess, then declares that you will answer him with a curse. It treats what you have as the price holding your devotion in place. The verse lets you hear the claim as a wager whose outcome is not established by the accusation itself.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that losing what you have automatically proves your love was only a bargain; this verse voices that claim as the adversary’s wager, not as an established truth.
THE ROOT
יְבָרֲכֶךָ
yevārəkhekha
GROWS FROM
ברך
Bless; the wider consonant family also carries the image of kneeling or bending the knee.
The Hebrew verb rendered “curse” is the word for “bless,” used here as a deliberate euphemism. The accuser predicts that, under loss, blessing itself will become a curse spoken to God’s face.
ALSO GROWS
barak: Bless; kneel or bend the knee.
בָּרַךְ
The shared word family holds blessing alongside the image of a bent knee, while the accusation imagines blessing turning into its opposite.
berakhah: Blessing.
בְּרָכָה
This branch keeps the word’s ordinary force visible inside the accusation’s startling euphemism.
berekh: Knee.
בֶּרֶךְ
The shared consonants connect the blessing family with the image of bending the knee.
וְגַע
vegaʿ
GROWS FROM
נגע
Touch or reach; by extension, strike or afflict.
The root spans contact and affliction. With “all that he hath” as its object, this is no neutral touch: the accuser asks for a reach that strikes everything Job possesses.
ALSO GROWS
negaʿ: Blow, plague, or affliction.
נֶגַע
The same root that can mean touching also names the harm that contact brings.
naguaʿ: Stricken or afflicted.
נָגוּעַ
This branch shows the result of the touch the accuser requests.
שְׁלַח
shelach
GROWS FROM
שלח
Send, send forth, or release.
“put forth” in this verse is shelach. The command is framed as sending forth God’s hand against Job’s possessions. This root makes the proposed devastation a deliberate act, followed by a touch whose own root carries the sense of affliction.
ALSO GROWS
shalach: Send forth or release.
שָׁלַח
This is the action the accuser demands: the hand is to be sent against everything Job has.
shaliach: Messenger; one sent.
שָׁלִיחַ
The word for a messenger preserves the root’s movement from sending to the one who is sent.
shilluach: Sending away or dismissal.
שִׁלּוּחַ
This branch carries the root’s sense of release into the act of sending something away.
THE PATTERN
The adversary joins pressure to accusation, claiming that hardship will expose a person’s devotion as false.
But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.THE THREAD
But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.The same Hebrew roots for “send forth,” “touch,” and “bless” recur in the accusation. The proposed harm escalates from everything Job owns to his body, while the prediction of a curse remains unchanged.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us