What Does Job 33:13 Mean in the King James?
Why dost thou strive against him? for he giveth not account of any of his matters.
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
“Matters” translates דְּבָרָיו (dĕvarav, “his words/matters”), from the same root as “speaketh” in the next verse.
THE MEANING
When you press God for a full account, this verse names a limit: not every divine matter comes with an explanation you can grasp. Yet the next line says God speaks; what is not fully accounted for is not necessarily absent from what you may perceive.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that every act of God must be fully explained to you before it can be real.
THE ROOT
דְּבָרָיו
dĕvarav
GROWS FROM
דבר
d-b-r
To speak; a word or matter.
The Hebrew דָּבָר (dābār) can mean both “word” and “matter” or “thing.” The KJV’s “matters” therefore carries an echo of speech: what God does and what God says meet in the same word-family.
ALSO GROWS
dābār: Word, matter, or thing.
דָּבָר
Its range lets “matters” hold both what is spoken and what is done.
dibbēr: He spoke.
דִּבֵּר
This verb from the same root appears in the next verse, where God speaks even though the hearer may not perceive it.
רִיבוֹתָ
rîvotā
GROWS FROM
ריב
r-y-b
To contend, dispute, or bring a case.
“strive” in this verse is rîvotā. This root can carry the force of a dispute or legal complaint, so the verse pictures more than private frustration: it presents a person contending with God and pressing for an answer. That gives the question its edge, the demand for an account is part of the contention itself.
ALSO GROWS
rîb: Dispute, contention, or legal case.
רִיב
The noun makes clear that “strive” can describe a claim brought against someone.
mĕrîvāh: Quarrel or contention.
מְרִיבָה
This related form echoes the verse’s image of a dispute between the reader and God.
THE PATTERN
God’s ways exceed the human demand to account for them, even while revelation remains real.
The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!THE THREAD
For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not.Job 33:13 uses דְּבָרָיו (dĕvarav, “his words/matters”), from the root דבר (d-b-r); יְדַבֶּר (yĕdabbēr, “he speaks”) in the next line comes from that same root. The sequence holds two things together: God does not give an account of every matter, yet speaks in ways the reader may not perceive.
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