What Does Job 34:20 Mean in the King James?
In a moment shall they die, and the people shall be troubled at midnight, and pass away: and the mighty shall be taken away without hand.
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 word translated “troubled” also describes the earth shaking and waters heaving: this is a people thrown into upheaval, not merely private worry.
THE MEANING
Death and upheaval arrive in a moment: a whole people is shaken at midnight, and the mighty are removed without a human hand. The verse places even public power under God’s reach; rank cannot secure anyone against the moment of removal.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the belief that the powerful control the terms of their own continuance, or that every removal requires a visible human agent.
THE ROOT
יְגֹעֲשׁוּ
yigʿashu
GROWS FROM
געש
To shake, quake, or heave violently.
English “troubled” can sound inward and quiet; this verb also describes the earth shaking and waters heaving. It gives the people’s disturbance the force of collective upheaval, as though they themselves are thrown into motion.
ALSO GROWS
tigaʿash: Shook or quaked.
תִּגְעַשׁ
The earth uses this same root when it shakes at God’s presence, giving the word in Job a scale larger than private distress.
yitgaʿashu: Are moved or heave.
יִתְגָּעֲשׁוּ
Jeremiah uses this form for waters surging like rivers; the root carries forceful motion, not merely unease.
THE PATTERN
Life and public power remain contingent: God can unsettle and remove what humans cannot secure.
Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust.And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.THE THREAD
Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations of heaven moved and shook, because he was wroth.This verse shares the root געש (gaʿash, to shake or quake) with “troubled” in Job: here the earth itself is shaking. That shared word lets Job’s midnight trouble carry the force of a quake, collective upheaval, not merely private worry.
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