What Does Job 31:25 Mean in the King James?
If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much;
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 verse tests whether joy rests on chayil, force and capacity gathered by the hand.
THE MEANING
This line exposes how your joy can become attached to what your hands have gathered. Abundance may be present, but the verse asks whether its increase is what makes your heart rejoice.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
More in your hand does not prove that you have more reason to rejoice.
THE ROOT
חֵילִי
ḥêlî
GROWS FROM
ח־י־ל
Force, strength, or capacity; by extension, resources and wealth.
The word translated “wealth” also carries the sense of force and capability. The verse examines whether joy has become attached to the power your hands have gathered.
ALSO GROWS
ish chayil: A person of strength or capability; rendered “able men” in Exodus 18:21.
אִישׁ חַיִל
The same word can describe personal capacity, showing that chayil reaches beyond material riches.
eshet chayil: A woman of strength and worth; rendered “virtuous woman” in Proverbs 31:10.
אֵשֶׁת חַיִל
Here the same word names qualities in a person, widening the verse’s picture of what chayil can hold.
מָצְאָה
māṣəʾāh
GROWS FROM
מ־צ־א
To find, encounter, or attain.
“had gotten” in this verse is māṣəʾāh. The Hebrew says that the hand “found” much. This verb also describes finding favor, placing what the hand acquires alongside a kind of finding that cannot be reduced to possessions.
ALSO GROWS
māṣāʾ: To locate or find, as in Job’s longing to find God in Job 23:3.
מָצָא
It echoes the verse’s image of the hand finding an abundance.
māṣāʾ ḥēn: To find favor, as Noah does in Genesis 6:8.
מָצָא חֵן
The same root describes finding favor as well as acquiring much, separating a person’s standing from the size of their holdings.
THE PATTERN
The increase of possessions does not give them the power to secure a person’s joy or trust.
Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery: if riches increase, set not your heart upon them.He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;THE THREAD
Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.“Virtuous” here is אֵשֶׁת חַיִל (eshet chayil), sharing the word chayil with Job’s “wealth.” The same root can name a person’s strength and worth, opening the word beyond riches alone.
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