What Does Job 12:16 Mean in the King James?
With him is strength and wisdom: the deceived and the deceiver are his.
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
Hebrew gives the one who strays and the one who leads astray neighboring but distinct words, then places both within the same strength and wisdom.
THE MEANING
The strength and sound wisdom that hold reality are with God, and both the person wandering into error and the person steering others there remain within that reach. Neither confusion nor manipulation lies outside this governance.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that being misled means being abandoned, or that misleading others creates a realm beyond God’s reach.
THE ROOT
שֹׁגֵג
shogeg
GROWS FROM
שגג
To err or go astray, especially without intending it.
The word translated deceived can carry the sense of one who has gone astray or erred. The verse pairs it with מַשְׁגֶּה (mashgeh), the one who causes another to stray, from the distinct root שגה; their shared ש־ג sound links the two actions without making them the same root.
ALSO GROWS
shagag: To err inadvertently.
שָׁגַג
This verb names the act behind the person described as שֹׁגֵג.
shegagah: An inadvertent error.
שְׁגָגָה
This noun shows the same root naming the error itself, as well as the person who falls into it.
מַשְׁגֶּה
mashgeh
GROWS FROM
שגה
To wander or go astray; in a causative form, to lead someone astray.
“deceiver” in this verse is mashgeh. Here the word names the one who causes another to wander. The nearby שֹׁגֵג (shogeg) names one who strays; the verse holds the two roles together while keeping their Hebrew roots distinct.
ALSO GROWS
shagah: To err or wander astray.
שָׁגָה
The verb supplies the action that the causative form directs toward another.
shogeh: One who errs or wanders.
שׁוֹגֶה
This form names the one straying, alongside the causative form for the one leading astray.
עֹז
oz
GROWS FROM
עזז
To be strong or prevail.
Strength here is something present with God, beside תּוּשִׁיָּה (tushiyyah, sound wisdom). The verse places power and sound judgment together as the ground in which both kinds of human error remain held.
ALSO GROWS
azuz: Mighty or strong.
עָזוּז
This related form makes the force of עֹז audible as might.
uzzi: My strength.
עֻזִּי
This possessive form uses the same root to name strength as a source one relies on.
THE PATTERN
God’s rule encompasses both the conditions that seem opposed and the full field of human disobedience.
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.THE THREAD
Whoso causeth the righteous to go astray in an evil way, he shall fall himself into his own pit: but the upright shall have good things in possession.The Hebrew word translated causeth to go astray comes from שגה, the same root as Job’s מַשְׁגֶּה, the deceiver. Proverbs shows the consequence of leading others astray; Job widens the frame to include both the one who strays and the one who misleads within God’s strength and wisdom.
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