What Does Job 11:6 Mean in the King James?
And that he would shew thee the secrets of wisdom, that they are double to that which is! Know therefore that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth.
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 verse invokes hidden wisdom to make a severe claim: God exacts less from you than your crookedness deserves.
THE MEANING
The verse’s voice says wisdom holds hidden depths beyond what you presently see, then claims God exacts from you less than your crookedness deserves. It casts the reader’s suffering as less than the consequence their crookedness warrants.
THE ROOT
תַּעֲלֻמוֹת
taʿalumot
GROWS FROM
עלם
To hide, conceal, or be hidden.
“secrets” in this verse is taʿalumot. The verse names wisdom through what is concealed, not only through what is already understood. Its hidden depths become the ground for the speaker’s severe claim about what you deserve.
ALSO GROWS
neʿlam: Hidden, concealed.
נֶעְלָם
This form from עלם names what remains hidden, echoing the secrets of wisdom in the verse.
heʿlim: He hid, concealed.
הֶעְלִים
This form names the act of concealing; the verse speaks of hidden things being shown.
כִּפְלַיִם
kiflayim
GROWS FROM
כפל
To fold or double.
“double” in this verse is kiflayim. The Hebrew describes wisdom as doubled in relation to what is visible. The image gives the verse’s claim a sense of depth folded beyond the measure already seen.
ALSO GROWS
kāphal: To double or fold.
כָּפַל
The verb carries the same action of doubling expressed by the verse’s description of wisdom.
kefel: A double portion or doubling.
כֶּפֶל
This noun keeps the root’s sense of a measure multiplied or folded over.
חָכְמָה
ḥokhmah
GROWS FROM
חכם
To be wise or skillful; to act with discernment.
“wisdom” in this verse is ḥokhmah. חָכְמָה is more than a store of information: it carries the sense of skilled discernment. The verse presents that discernment as having hidden dimensions beyond what the reader presently sees.
ALSO GROWS
ḥākām: A wise or skillful person.
חָכָם
This form names a person who embodies the discernment carried by חָכְמָה.
ḥakhamim: Wise or skillful people.
חֲכָמִים
The plural extends the same root from wisdom as a quality to those who exercise it.
THE PATTERN
Divine wisdom exceeds human sight, so confident judgments about what another deserves can be mistaken.
And it was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath.Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!THE THREAD
Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.Job’s תַּעֲלֻמוֹת (taʿalumot, hidden things) and Psalm 90:8’s עֲלֻמֵנוּ (ʿalumenu, our hidden things) share the root עלם, meaning to hide or be hidden. The Psalm turns what is concealed toward exposure: secret things stand in the light of God’s face.
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