What Does Job 21:31 Mean in the King James?
Who shall declare his way to his face? and who shall repay him what he hath done?
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
“Repay” comes from שָׁלֵם (sh-l-m, make whole or recompense), the same root as שָׁלוֹם (shalom, wholeness): impunity leaves the wrong as an open account no one closes.
THE MEANING
You can recognize the painful gap between seeing someone’s way and having anyone name it to his face. The verse asks who can make the one who acts answer for what he has done.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that wrongdoing is always confronted and repaid promptly.
THE ROOT
יְשַׁלֵּם
yeshallēm
GROWS FROM
שלם
sh-l-m
To be complete or whole; in this verb form, to make good, recompense, or repay.
“repay” in this verse is yeshallēm. The same root holds repayment alongside wholeness. Here the unpaid wrong remains an open account, with no one making it good.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Wholeness, well-being, or peace.
שָׁלוֹם
Its shared root lets repayment echo the making whole of what has been broken.
shillēm: He repaid or made restitution.
שִׁלֵּם
This verb form makes the root’s link between making good and paying back explicit.
יַגִּיד
yaggid
GROWS FROM
נגד
n-g-d
To make known, tell, or set something in view.
“declare” in this verse is yaggid. The question is not whether the way can be known, but who will make it known in the doer’s presence. The phrase “to his face” gives the telling a direct, exposed quality.
ALSO GROWS
maggid: One who tells or declares.
מַגִּיד
It names the one who could bring the way into the open.
neged: In front of or opposite.
נֶגֶד
It echoes the face-to-face setting of the question.
דַּרְכּוֹ
darko
GROWS FROM
דרך
d-r-k
To tread or step; a path is what is trodden.
A “way” is not only an idea but a course made by steps. The question asks who will name the course this person is actually taking.
ALSO GROWS
derek: A way, road, or path.
דֶּרֶךְ
It names the course whose character is at issue.
darak: To tread or step.
דָּרַךְ
It shows the movement beneath “way”: a path is formed by what someone repeatedly treads.
THE PATTERN
When human accountability fails or is delayed, Scripture keeps the question of recompense open beyond the wrongdoer’s control.
Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.THE THREAD
The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again: but the righteous sheweth mercy, and giveth.Job’s “repay” and the Psalm’s “payeth” come from the same Hebrew root, שלם (sh-l-m, to make good or repay). The Psalm turns Job’s question around: the one who escapes repayment is also described as leaving debts unpaid to others.
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