What Does Job 19:10 Mean in the King James?
He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone: and mine hope hath he removed like a tree.
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
Hope is not portrayed as a feeling that fades, but as a living thing torn out by the roots.
THE MEANING
This verse gives you words for a loss that feels total: you are not merely discouraged; your hope feels uprooted like a tree. The speaker names “He” as the one who brings this devastation, holding the accusation in full view.
THE ROOT
וַיַּסַּע
wayyassaʿ
GROWS FROM
נסע
nasaʿ
To pull up, set out, or journey from one place to another.
The verb rendered “removed” is nasaʿ, a word associated with pulling up and setting out. Hope’s loss is pictured as something lifted from its place, like a tree uprooted, rather than merely dimmed.
ALSO GROWS
nasaʿ: To journey, set out, or pull up.
נָסַע
The verb’s sense of movement makes the removal of hope feel like a departure from the place where it had been rooted.
massaʿ: A journey or stage of travel.
מַסָּע
This journey-word shares the root of the verb that describes hope being pulled away.
תִּקְוָתִי
tiqvati
GROWS FROM
קוה
qavah
To wait for, look toward, or hope expectantly.
The verse names hope as tiqvah, an expectation that can be lifted out like a tree. The related noun can also mean a cord or line, giving hope the image of something that can hold or connect.
ALSO GROWS
qavah: To wait for or look eagerly toward.
קָוָה
The verb shows the expectant posture contained in the word translated “hope.”
tiqvah: Hope or expectation; also a cord or line in some contexts.
תִּקְוָה
The same noun names the hope uprooted here and can name a cord, an image of hope as a tether rather than an abstract feeling.
THE PATTERN
Scripture pictures hope as living rootedness: it can be severed, sustained, and made to abound.
For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.THE THREAD
For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.Job 14:7 uses the same Hebrew noun, tiqvah, for hope, but places it in the tree itself: a cut tree may still sprout. Job 19:10 names hope as uprooted; this verse holds the same image open to renewal without pretending the loss is small.
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