What Does Job 32:15 Mean in the King James?
They were amazed, they answered no more: they left off speaking.
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 pictures silence as words moved away from the speakers, giving their astonishment the force of displacement.
THE MEANING
A reply can stop when dismay leaves words out of reach. Silence here does not settle what a person believes; it can be the shape astonishment takes.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Silence does not always mean agreement; dismay can leave a person without a reply.
THE ROOT
הֶעְתִּיקוּ מֵהֶם מִלִּים
heʿtîqû mēhem millîm
GROWS FROM
עתק
ʿ-t-q
To move, shift, or transfer from a place.
Under “left off speaking,” the Hebrew adds an image of words moved away from the speakers. Their silence feels less like a chosen pause and more like speech displaced out of reach.
ALSO GROWS
yeʿtāq: Is moved or removed from its place.
יֶעְתָּק
In Job 14:18, the same root describes a rock removed from its place, giving the words’ departure a concrete sense of displacement.
hammaʿtîq: The one who removes or shifts.
הַמַּעְתִּיק
Job 9:5 uses this form for the one who removes mountains; here the root’s image of movement applies to words leaving their speakers.
חַתּוּ
ḥattû
GROWS FROM
חתת
ḥ-t-t
To be shattered, dismayed, or struck with terror.
The word translated “amazed” carries the force of being dismayed or shattered, not just curious wonder. The root makes the silence feel like an effect of being struck by what is before them.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāṯaṯ: To be shattered, dismayed, or afraid.
חָתַת
This verb shows the disruption beneath their amazement: their readiness to answer has broken down.
məḥittāh: Terror, ruin, or destruction.
מְחִתָּה
This related noun gives the root’s dismay a forceful edge, fitting a moment that leaves no words to offer.
THE PATTERN
When astonishment or exposure overwhelms a ready reply, speech can fall away and the mouth goes quiet.
The princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on their mouth.And they could not take hold of his words before the people: and they marvelled at his answer, and held their peace.Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.THE THREAD
And surely the mountain falling cometh to nought, and the rock is removed out of his place.Job uses the same root, עתק (ʿ-t-q), meaning to move or remove, for a rock shifted from its place. Here words are moved away from their speakers, making speechlessness feel like displacement.
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