What Does Job 34:21 Mean in the King James?
For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings.
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
A “way” is ground made by treading, and God sees both the course and every step that forms it.
THE MEANING
Your life’s direction and the particular steps within it are visible to God. The verse holds the whole path and each movement together in one unbroken sight.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that private or routine parts of your life disappear from God’s view.
THE ROOT
דַּרְכֵי
darkhei
GROWS FROM
דרך
To tread or step along; by extension, the path made by walking.
דֶּרֶךְ is a way made underfoot, so “ways” carries the sense of a lived course, not merely an intention. Paired with “goings,” it shows God seeing both the path and the steps that make it.
ALSO GROWS
derek: Way, road, or course of life.
דֶּרֶךְ
The path is something traveled, giving “ways” the weight of an enacted life.
darak: To tread, step, or march.
דָּרַךְ
The verb reveals the movement contained in the noun: a way is formed by treading.
צְעָדָיו
tze'adav
GROWS FROM
צעד
To step or stride.
The word translated “goings” pictures actual steps. Beside “ways,” it moves from the full course of a life to each distinct movement within it.
ALSO GROWS
tsa'ad: A step or stride.
צַעַד
It makes the verse’s “goings” concrete: these are the steps that compose a person’s way.
tsa'ad: To step or march.
צָעַד
The verb emphasizes movement, showing that the person’s course is made up of actions along the way.
THE PATTERN
Divine sight encompasses both the course of a life and its particular movements.
For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.THE THREAD
Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.Job’s “ways” and the psalm’s “ways” share דֶּרֶךְ (derek), the trodden course of a life. The psalm extends that sight across movement and rest: even lying down is held within the path God knows.
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