What Does Job 17:3 Mean in the King James?
Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who is he that will strike hands with me?
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
Job makes his plea physical: he asks God to put his own hand on the line as Job’s guarantor.
THE MEANING
When your standing feels exposed, this verse gives the need a concrete form: you ask God to stand as surety for you, then ask who will clasp hands with you. The request names the loneliness of having no one yet bind their own standing to yours.
THE ROOT
עָרְבֵנִי
ʿārḇēnî
GROWS FROM
ערב
ʿ-r-b
to stand surety or pledge oneself for another
“surety” in this verse is ʿārḇēnî. This root asks someone to take liability for another; its noun branches name both the guarantor and the pledge itself. The plea carries a whole bond in one verb: a person stands in for another.
ALSO GROWS
ʿārēv: A guarantor or surety.
עָרֵב
It names the person Job asks God to be for him.
ʿērāḇôn: A pledge or security held as a guarantee.
עֵרָבוֹן
It shows that surety is a binding pledge, not merely an inward feeling.
יִתָּקֵעַ
yittāqēaʿ
GROWS FROM
תקע
t-q-ʿ
to thrust, drive in, or strike; in this phrase, to strike hands in pledge
“strike” in this verse is yittāqēaʿ. The verb retains the force of a physical act, and here it is paired with a hand. Job asks for commitment made tangible, a public pledge that meets his exposed position with someone else’s hand.
ALSO GROWS
tāqaʿ: To thrust, drive in, or strike.
תָּקַע
Its concrete force gives Job’s request the shape of an actual hand striking in agreement.
teqīʿāh: A trumpet blast or sounding.
תְּקִיעָה
This branch carries the root’s forceful action into a sound that makes itself heard.
THE PATTERN
A person’s security can rest on another who accepts the pledge and binds their own standing to the outcome.
I will be surety for him; of my hand shalt thou require him: if I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame for ever:My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger,By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.THE THREAD
My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger,Job’s words pair ערב, standing surety, with תקע, striking hands; Proverbs places those same roots side by side. The parallel reveals that Job is asking for a pledge made concrete by the hand.
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