What Does Job 20:2 Mean in the King James?
Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this I make haste.
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 word for “thoughts” carries the image of branching, so the hurried answer rises from an inner life splitting into competing lines.
THE MEANING
The verse names an inner pressure: branching thoughts push you toward a quick answer. The speed of the reply reflects the division already active within you.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A quick answer can feel like clarity because it arrives with force. This verse shows that speed can also come from thoughts pulling in different directions.
THE ROOT
שְׂעִפַּי
se'ippay
GROWS FROM
שׂעף
śʿp
To split, divide, or branch off.
The Hebrew word translated “thoughts” carries the image of branching or divided reflections. English makes it sound like neutral mental content; the Hebrew lets you sense thoughts dividing into lines that press toward a reply.
ALSO GROWS
se'ippim: Thoughts or divided reflections.
שְׂעִפִּים
This same noun appears in Job 4:13 and Psalm 119:113, keeping the image of branching thought close to the verse.
sa'if: A branch or bough.
שָׂעִיף
The physical branch gives shape to the root’s image: one thing splitting into separate limbs.
יְשִׁיבוּנִי
yeshivuni
GROWS FROM
שׁוּב
shuv
To turn back or return.
The verb translated “cause me to answer” comes from shuv, “turn” or “return.” The response is pictured as a movement back, tied to the thoughts that have risen within.
ALSO GROWS
shuv: To turn or return.
שׁוּב
This base verb shows the movement carried inside the Hebrew form for answering.
meshubah: Turning away or backsliding.
מְשׁוּבָה
This branch shows how a turning can become a return in the wrong direction, adding weight to the verse’s image of thought steering response.
חוּשִׁי
chushi
GROWS FROM
חוּשׁ
ḥûš
To hurry or hasten.
“make haste” in this verse is chushi. The word names an inward urgency, reinforced by “within me.” The verse binds that rush to the branching thoughts and the answer they press forth.
ALSO GROWS
chushah: Hasten.
חוּשָׁה
Psalm 38:22 uses this form in a plea to hasten to help, showing urgency directed outward.
chashti: I made haste.
חַשְׁתִּי
Psalm 119:60 uses this form for a quick movement, echoing the verse’s focus on speed.
THE PATTERN
When the interior is hurried, Scripture treats speech as a place where that pressure becomes visible.
Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words? there is more hope of a fool than of him.Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:THE THREAD
I hate vain thoughts: but thy law do I love.The Hebrew noun translated “thoughts” in Job is the same word rendered “vain thoughts” here. Its branching sense makes the hurried answer legible as the outward movement of thoughts pulling in different directions.
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