What Does Job 17:13 Mean in the King James?
If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness.
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 uses the same root for “wait” and “hope,” so Job’s line gives hope the address of the grave.
THE MEANING
Here, you wait with the grave as the house you can name; the verse does not disguise that expectation as confidence. Making a bed in darkness makes death immediate, a place prepared for dwelling rather than a distant abstraction. Even so, the word for waiting belongs to the Hebrew root of hope, holding expectation and death in the same sentence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that waiting always feels like confidence in rescue: here, the root-word of hope accompanies an expectation of death.
THE ROOT
אֲקַוֶּה
ʾăqawweh
GROWS FROM
קוה
q-w-h
Wait for, look toward, or hope for.
The verb behind “wait” shares its root with תִּקְוָה (tiqvah), “hope” or “expectation.” That makes Job’s sentence hold hope and death together at the level of the word: expectation is present even when the grave is the only home he can name.
ALSO GROWS
tiqvah: Hope, expectation
תִּקְוָה
This noun makes the verb’s hidden expectation visible: Job’s waiting and the language of hope grow from the same root.
qōwê: Those who wait for or hope in
קֹוֵי
Isaiah uses this form for those waiting for the LORD, letting Job’s bleak expectation be heard beside waiting that anticipates renewal.
THE PATTERN
Waiting keeps expectation present before its outcome is seen, even when the expected destination feels like death rather than renewal.
I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.THE THREAD
But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.The word behind “wait” in Job shares its root with Isaiah’s “they that wait.” The root holds the same act of expectation in both verses, while their horizons differ: Job names the grave as home; Isaiah names renewed strength.
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