What Does Job 24:1 Mean in the King James?
Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days?
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
Knowing God does not make God’s timing visible: divine awareness and human sight can remain distinct.
THE MEANING
The verse holds a live tension: no time is concealed from the Almighty, yet those who know him do not perceive his days. A reader can know God and still not see when his action comes into view.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Knowing God does not guarantee that I will recognize the timing or visible arrival of his action.
THE ROOT
נִצְפְּנוּ
nitspe-nu
GROWS FROM
צפן
צפן (ṣ-p-n; tsaphan) means to hide, conceal, or store away.
The verse’s “not hidden” comes from צפן (ṣ-p-n; tsaphan), a root for concealing and storing away. Time can be held beyond human sight without being absent from the Almighty’s knowledge.
ALSO GROWS
tsaphan: To hide, keep, or store up.
צָפַן
This verb gives the verse’s hiddenness an active sense: a time can be held out of sight, not absent.
tsafun: Hidden, concealed, or stored away.
צָפוּן
This form preserves the root’s sense of something concealed yet kept in reserve.
חָזוּ
chazu
GROWS FROM
חזה
חזה (ḥ-z-h; chazah) means to see, behold, or perceive.
This root can name seeing and what is seen in a vision, giving “see his days” the sense of perceiving an event as it comes into view. Knowing God does not ensure that this sight arrives.
ALSO GROWS
chozeh: A seer, one who sees.
חֹזֶה
The person-word shows that seeing can describe a capacity to perceive, not just the act of looking.
machazeh: A vision or sight.
מַחֲזֶה
This noun from the same root connects seeing with a vision that comes into view.
יֹדְעָיו
yod'av
GROWS FROM
ידע
ידע (y-d-ʿ; yada) means to know, recognize, or be acquainted with.
The verse calls them “those who know him,” using ידע (y-d-ʿ; yada), a root that also gives words for knowledge and acquaintance. The passage lets personal knowing coexist with not seeing when his days arrive.
ALSO GROWS
da'at: Knowledge or understanding.
דַּעַת
This noun from ידע connects knowing a person with knowledge, while the verse shows that knowledge does not itself reveal the timing.
moda: An acquaintance or known relation.
מוֹדָע
This word for someone known or related carries the root’s personal dimension, echoing “those who know him.”
THE PATTERN
A time can be appointed within God’s work before its fulfillment becomes visible to those waiting.
He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come: but your time is alway ready.THE THREAD
After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.The Hebrew verb חָזוּ (ḥāzû, “they saw”) in Job and מַחֲזֶה (maḥăzeh, “vision”) in Genesis grow from חזה (ḥ-z-h; “see, behold”). That shared root connects seeing God’s days with perception that comes into view as a vision.
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