What Does Job 20:24 Mean in the King James?
He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel shall strike him through.
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 verb for the bow’s strike also means “to change”: one weapon gives way to another, and escape does not become safety.
THE MEANING
He moves away from the iron weapon, but the bow’s shot passes through him. Escape from one danger does not put the body beyond harm; the violence reaches him from another direction.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that getting clear of one immediate threat means the danger is over. Here, he escapes the iron weapon, yet the next blow still reaches him.
THE ROOT
תַּחְלְפֵהוּ
taḥlefehu
GROWS FROM
חלף
ḥ-l-p
To pass by or through; to change or exchange.
“strike him through” in this verse is taḥlefehu. The bow’s shot is pictured as passing through him. Its root also names change or exchange, so the line joins a weapon passing through the body with one threat giving way to another.
ALSO GROWS
ḥalaph: To pass by or through; to change.
חָלַף
The shot’s movement through him is carried by this root of passage.
yaḥalifu: They shall renew or change.
יַחֲלִיפוּ
In Isaiah 40:31, the same root is rendered “renew”; its range holds both a blow passing through and strength changing.
THE PATTERN
Escaping one danger can bring a person within reach of another.
As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.THE THREAD
If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.The word translated “change” comes from the same root as the bow’s “strike him through” here. In this verse the root describes a weapon passing through a body; there it names the change Job awaits, bringing piercing and transformation into one word-family.
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