What Does Job 34:2 Mean in the King James?
Hear my words, O ye wise men; and give ear unto me, ye that have knowledge.
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
Here, wisdom is shown as an ear still open to another voice.
THE MEANING
You are addressed as someone who knows, and the verse still places listening at the center of that knowing. Wisdom remains open to another’s words; what you know stays alive when it can receive.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that having knowledge means having nothing left to hear.
THE ROOT
שִׁמְעוּ
shim'u
GROWS FROM
שמע
Hear, listen, heed.
The verse calls people already named wise and knowing to hear, then repeats the call with “give ear.” Shama can carry listening that heeds, so the address holds reception and response together.
ALSO GROWS
shema: Hear, listen.
שְׁמַע
The same root opens Deuteronomy’s call to hear, showing listening as an active beginning, not a mark of ignorance.
shemuah: A report or something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
This branch links hearing to receiving words from another, as the wise men receive Elihu’s words here.
הַאֲזִינוּ
ha'azinu
GROWS FROM
אזן
Ear; listen or give attention.
“Give ear” in this verse is ha'azinu. The second verb makes listening an embodied image: the hearers are asked to turn their ears toward a voice. Hebrew keeps the ear and the act of listening in one word-family, giving attention a bodily closeness.
ALSO GROWS
ozen: Ear.
אֹזֶן
The body part gives “give ear” its concrete image of attentive reception.
ha'azin: Listen, give ear.
הַאֲזִין
This verb from the same root makes hearing an act of directed attention, echoing the verse’s repeated call to listen.
יֹדְעִים
yode'im
GROWS FROM
ידע
Know, recognize, perceive.
“Knowledge” in this verse is yode'im. The Hebrew phrase is “those knowing,” from yada. This root can carry recognition and encounter as well as information, so the people addressed as knowers are still called into fresh knowing through what they hear.
ALSO GROWS
yada: Know, recognize, perceive.
יָדַע
The root connects knowledge with active recognition, rather than a store of facts that closes the listener to new words.
da'at: Knowledge, understanding.
דַּעַת
This noun from the same root links what the hearers possess to the ongoing act of knowing.
THE PATTERN
Understanding stays alive when the one who knows remains ready to hear.
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:THE THREAD
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:Both verses use שָׁמַע (shama, hear): Job addresses the wise as hearers, and Deuteronomy opens with the same call. The shared root lets hearing carry the sense of attentive reception, not sound alone.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us