What Does Job 23:6 Mean in the King James?
Will he plead against me with his great power? No; but he would put strength in me.
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 power Job fears might be turned against him becomes strength placed within him.
THE MEANING
When you fear that God’s power stands against you, this verse answers with another movement: strength is placed within you. What could feel like opposition becomes support from inside.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that God’s greatness must mean a greater force arrayed against you; here, his power strengthens you from within.
THE ROOT
יָשִׂים
yasim
GROWS FROM
שִׂים
sim
To put, place, or set.
“put” in this verse is yasim. The word describes strength being set inside the speaker. The verse presents divine power as an inward placement, not simply a force acting from outside.
ALSO GROWS
sam: He placed or set.
שָׂם
This form makes the root’s concrete sense of placing clear: strength is set within the person.
simu: Set or place, addressed to a group.
שִׂימוּ
The same root can describe an act of placing; here, what is placed is strength within the speaker.
יָרִיב
yariv
GROWS FROM
רִיב
riv
To contend, dispute, or bring a case.
“plead” in this verse is yariv. The question imagines God’s power as opposition in a dispute, but the answer turns away from that image. The verse moves from feared contention to strength placed within.
ALSO GROWS
riv: A dispute or contention.
רִיב
This noun carries the conflict implied by the speaker’s question.
merivah: A quarrel or contention.
מְרִיבָה
This branch keeps the sense of active conflict in view, sharpening the contrast with the inward support that follows.
THE PATTERN
Divine strength reaches the faint by being imparted within them, not wielded against them.
He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;THE THREAD
In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul.Job says strength is put “in me”; this verse locates strength within the person as well. Both describe help as an inward strengthening rather than a force brought against the one who cries out.
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