What Does Job 22:22 Mean in the King James?
Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart.
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 verse moves instruction from a mouth into the heart: what is spoken becomes inward direction.
THE MEANING
You receive instruction as speech from God’s mouth and set what he says in the heart, the inner center of thought and intention. The movement is from hearing to inward holding: spoken direction becomes part of how you perceive now.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that divine instruction is only an outside demand; its words are received inwardly, where they shape understanding.
THE ROOT
תּוֹרָה
torah
GROWS FROM
ירה
Direct, point, or teach; related forms also carry the concrete sense of throwing or shooting.
“law” in this verse is torah. Torah is instruction that gives direction. Set beside “from his mouth,” it presents guidance as something spoken and received, rather than merely an external code.
ALSO GROWS
moreh: teacher, instructor
מוֹרֶה
The teacher directs another through instruction, echoing Torah’s sense of guidance.
yarah: to throw or shoot
יָרָה
This concrete form gives the root an image of something directed toward a destination.
אִמְרָיו
imrav
GROWS FROM
אמר
Say, speak, utter.
The Hebrew word means “his sayings” or “his utterances,” and it follows the phrase “from his mouth.” The verse carries spoken words into the heart, where they become inwardly held.
ALSO GROWS
amar: to say, speak
אָמַר
It names the act that gives rise to the sayings being received.
imrah: saying, utterance
אִמְרָה
This noun makes explicit the link between the words and the act of speaking.
THE PATTERN
Instruction becomes inward direction when spoken words are received and held in the heart.
And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:THE THREAD
But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.Jeremiah uses the same Hebrew word, Torah, translated “law,” and places it in the inward parts and heart. The shared word opens Job’s image further: instruction received from the mouth is also instruction written within.
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