What Does Job 16:1 Mean in the King James?
Then Job answered and said,
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 Hebrew holds answering and speaking together: a response takes a voice inside an exchange.
THE MEANING
Job answers, and the answer becomes speech rather than remaining an inward reaction. You meet the moment when a response takes a voice and enters the exchange.
THE ROOT
וַיַּעַן
wayyaʿan
GROWS FROM
ענה
to answer or respond
“answered” in this verse is wayyaʿan. This root ties the act of answering to a response made to someone else. Paired with “said,” it presents Job’s words as a reply within an exchange, not speech detached from what came before.
ALSO GROWS
maʿaneh: An answer or response.
מַעֲנֶה
The noun names the response itself, keeping it in the same word family as the act of answering.
ʿoneh: One who is answering or responding.
עֹנֶה
This form names the speaker through the act of answering, as Job’s voice enters the exchange here.
THE PATTERN
An answer takes shape as speech within an exchange.
Then call thou, and I will answer: or let me speak, and answer thou me.A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.Jesus answered him, If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil: but if well, why smitest thou me?THE THREAD
Then call thou, and I will answer: or let me speak, and answer thou me.Job 13:22 uses the same root ענה (ʿanah, answer or respond) for the answer in a direct exchange. In Job 16:1, that reply takes the form of spoken words: the possibility of an answer becomes a voice taking its turn.
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