What Does Job 27:23 Mean in the King James?
Men shall clap their hands at him, and shall hiss him out of his place.
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 Hebrew verb for “hiss” can also mean a whistle that summons, so the same sound can expel in Job and gather elsewhere.
THE MEANING
Public contempt carries this force: a crowd’s clapping and hissing can mark someone as unwanted and push them from their place. Ridicule becomes an act of exclusion, turning sound into a boundary.
THE ROOT
יִשְׁרְקֻהוּ
yishreqūhu
GROWS FROM
שרק
sharaq
To whistle or hiss with a sharp, sibilant call; depending on context, the sound can signal scorn or summon someone.
English makes “hiss” sound like mere mockery, but שרק (sharaq) can also be a call that gathers. The verb shifts from driving a man from his place here to summoning scattered people in Isaiah and Zechariah.
ALSO GROWS
yishreqūhu: A crowd whistles at him in scorn.
יִשְׁרְקֻהוּ
In this verse the sharp call marks his rejection and drives him from his place.
veshāraq lo: A whistle signals for someone to come.
וְשָׁרַק לוֹ
Isaiah uses the same root for a call that brings people from far away, showing the sound can summon as well as shame.
ve’eshreqah lahem: A call made to gather people.
וְאֶשְׁרְקָה לָהֶם
In Zechariah, the same verb becomes a summons that gathers the scattered rather than casting someone out.
THE PATTERN
A crowd can use sound to cast a person out, while a sharp call can also summon the scattered into a people.
All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days,I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them: and they shall increase as they have increased.THE THREAD
I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them: and they shall increase as they have increased.The verb שרק (sharaq), “to whistle or hiss,” appears in both verses: here the crowd’s whistle sends a man from his place, while in Zechariah God whistles for the scattered and gathers them. The same sound carries rejection in one passage and welcome in the other.
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