What Does Job 27:4 Mean in the King James?
My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit.
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 word for “utter” also means “mutter” or “meditate”: deceit can be rehearsed within before it becomes audible.
THE MEANING
Your speech has an inner life before it reaches your lips: what your tongue rehearses is already shaping what it says. This verse holds inward rumination and spoken deception together as one question of integrity.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that deceit is harmless as long as it stays inside or never becomes a spoken lie.
THE ROOT
תֶּהְגֶּה
tehgeh
GROWS FROM
הגה
To murmur or mutter; by extension, to meditate, utter, or growl.
English “utter” sounds like a simple act of speech, but this Hebrew verb also describes muttering and meditation. The verse reaches back before audible speech, to what the tongue turns over inwardly.
ALSO GROWS
yehgeh: Murmurs or meditates.
יֶהְגֶּה
The same verb can describe inward rehearsal directed toward the LORD’s instruction.
yehgeh: Makes a low, rumbling sound like a lion over its prey.
יֶהְגֶּה
The shared word links what is rehearsed within to sound that emerges from the mouth.
higgāyôn: Meditation or inward musing.
הִגָּיוֹן
This related form appears beside “the words of my mouth,” joining inner thought and spoken words.
רְמִיָּה
remiyyāh
GROWS FROM
רמה
To deceive, beguile, or deal treacherously.
The word translated “deceit” points to misleading another, not merely saying something inaccurate. Beside the tongue’s inward muttering, it shows deception taking shape before anyone hears it.
ALSO GROWS
rāmâ: To mislead or deal treacherously.
רָמָה
This verb names deception as an act, giving force to the tongue’s refusal to cultivate it.
mirmāh: Deception or trickery.
מִרְמָה
This related noun shows the same root appearing as the very thing Job’s tongue refuses to rehearse.
THE PATTERN
Speech grows from what is repeatedly turned over within.
But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.THE THREAD
Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.The verb behind “utter” is תֶּהְגֶּה (tehgeh, mutter or meditate), from הָגָה (hāgâ, murmur or meditate), the same root behind the meditation named here. Psalm 19:14 holds the mouth’s words and the heart’s meditation together, showing the inward and outward sides of speech.
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