What Does Job 1:9 Mean in the King James?
Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?
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 Adversary turns reverence into a transaction: is Job in awe of God only because he is paid in blessing?
THE MEANING
The question reaches you wherever goodness and belief seem tied: does reverence survive when life stops paying you back? The Adversary frames Job’s regard as a bargain, as though protection and prosperity purchase his awe. The verse exposes this suspicion as a live test of what a relationship rests on, while leaving the answer unresolved.
THE ROOT
הַשָּׂטָן
ha-satan
GROWS FROM
שׂטן
To oppose or act as an adversary.
The Hebrew has the article: ha-satan, “the Adversary.” That makes the question more than a neutral inquiry; it comes from the posture of opposition, casting Job’s reverence as a purchased response.
ALSO GROWS
satan: Adversary; one who opposes.
שָׂטָן
This is the title used in Job’s verse, naming the speaker by the opposing role he takes.
sitnah: Hostility or accusation.
שִׂטְנָה
This related form shows how opposition can take the shape of an accusation, as it does when Job’s motives are called into question.
יָרֵא
yare
GROWS FROM
ירא
To fear or stand in awe.
The word translated “fear” can carry the sense of awe and reverence toward God. The question is therefore about whether Job’s orientation toward God is freely held or bought by the good he receives.
ALSO GROWS
yir'ah: Fear or awe.
יִרְאָה
This noun shares the root’s range and makes visible the reverence that the Adversary claims is conditional.
nora: Awe-inspiring or formidable.
נוֹרָא
This related form describes what evokes awe, drawing attention to the nature of the one Job reveres.
THE PATTERN
When devotion is measured by its return, a relationship is mistaken for an exchange.
Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?THE THREAD
And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.Job’s הַשָּׂטָן (ha-satan, “the Adversary”) speaks here; Zechariah uses the same title for the one standing to oppose Joshua. The shared שׂטן root makes the posture of Job’s question visible: it is opposition expressed as an accusation.
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