What Does Job 17:11 Mean in the King James?
My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart.
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 root behind “broken off” also describes breaking a yoke: the same image names both the severing of Job’s plans and the breaking of what constrains a person.
THE MEANING
When your days feel spent, the future you had imagined can feel cut loose before it arrives. This verse lets that collapse be spoken plainly, without pretending its resolution is already visible.
THE ROOT
נִתְּקוּ
nittequ
GROWS FROM
נתק
nataq
to sever, detach, tear away
“broken off” in this verse is nittequ. The verb comes from נתק (nataq), “to sever or detach.” Job’s purposes are not merely inactive; the word pictures them as cut loose, an image the same root uses for breaking a yoke.
ALSO GROWS
nataq: to tear away, sever
נָתַק
This basic verb shows the force of Job’s phrase: his purposes have been torn from the future he imagined.
tenattequ: you break apart, sever
תְּנַתֵּקוּ
Isaiah uses this form for breaking every yoke, showing that this root’s severing can also describe a constraint being broken.
זִמֹּתַי
zimotai
GROWS FROM
זמם
zamam
to plan, devise
“purposes” in this verse is zimotai. This root names formed designs, not vague wishes. Its related nouns can mean a plan or device, so Job’s grief reaches the future he had actually conceived.
ALSO GROWS
zamam: to plan, devise
זָמַם
The verb gives “purposes” the weight of something deliberately formed in the mind.
zimmah: a plan, device, or scheme
זִמָּה
This related noun shows how the same root carries the idea of a conceived design; here, that design has been cut short.
mezimmah: a plan, intention, or device
מְזִמָּה
This branch makes clear that the verse is grieving over intentions that had taken shape, not merely over a passing mood.
עָבְרוּ
avaru
GROWS FROM
עבר
avar
to pass across, cross over
The verb translated “past” comes from עבר (avar), “to pass or cross over.” The days are pictured as already traversed, and the severing of Job’s plans follows immediately.
ALSO GROWS
avar: to pass, cross over
עָבַר
This base verb makes the movement inside “past” visible: the days have gone across and beyond.
ma'avar: a passage, crossing
מַעֲבָר
This related noun keeps the root’s crossing image, echoing Job’s sense that his time has moved beyond reach.
ever: the other side, beyond
עֵבֶר
This branch names what lies across or beyond, adding spatial depth to the verse’s sense of days already gone.
THE PATTERN
Human plans do not guarantee their own completion; Scripture places intention beside the limits of life.
His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand.THE THREAD
Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?Job’s “broken off” and Isaiah’s “break every yoke” draw on נתק (nataq), “to sever or detach.” Job names what has been torn from within; Isaiah uses the same severing image for a yoke being broken.
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