What Does Job 23:14 Mean in the King James?
For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him.
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
Job’s verb for “performeth” shares a root with שָׁלוֹם (shalom, wholeness), while the next line names the dread of seeing the appointed course completed.
THE MEANING
What is appointed for you lies under God’s power to bring to completion, and many such matters remain with him. That certainty can be frightening; the next verse names the response: “Therefore am I troubled.”
THE ROOT
יַשְׁלִם
yashlim
GROWS FROM
שלם
sh-l-m
Be complete or whole; in this verb form, bring to completion, repay, or make good.
The verb’s root also lives in שָׁלוֹם (shalom), meaning wholeness, and in words for completing or repaying. English “performeth” hides this family resemblance; the surrounding lines make clear that completion does not necessarily feel like comfort.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Wholeness, well-being
שָׁלוֹם
The shared root links completion with wholeness, adding depth to “performeth” without making Job’s appointed course feel easy.
shillēm: Repay, recompense, make good
שִׁלֵּם
This branch shows the root can carry the sense of settling or bringing something to its due completion.
חֻקִּי
ḥuqqî
GROWS FROM
חקק
ḥ-q-q
Cut or inscribe; by extension, establish or prescribe a decree, limit, or portion.
The word translated “appointed” carries the force of a prescribed share or boundary, not merely an unspecified event. The verse speaks of a course already marked out, then widens the weight of it with “many such things.”
ALSO GROWS
ḥōq: A prescribed portion, limit, or statute
חֹק
This is the noun behind “my appointed” thing, giving the phrase the sense of a set share or boundary.
meḥoqeq: One who decrees; a lawgiver
מְחֹקֵק
This related word shows the root’s movement from inscribing or setting a limit to the one who establishes it.
THE PATTERN
What is appointed under God’s authority reaches completion, even when the one living it cannot see the whole or feel at ease in it.
The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:THE THREAD
So was ended all the work that king Solomon made for the house of the LORD. And Solomon brought in the things which David his father had dedicated; even the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, did he put among the treasures of the house of the LORD.Job’s יַשְׁלִם (yashlim, “brings to completion”) and 1 Kings’ וַתִּשְׁלַם (vattishlam, “was completed”) share the root שלם (sh-l-m, completion and wholeness). In Kings, it marks a building project brought to its finish; in Job, it describes God completing the prescribed portion that troubles the speaker.
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