What Does Job 34:29 Mean in the King James?
When he giveth quietness, who then can make trouble? and when he hideth his face, who then can behold him? whether it be done against a nation, or against a man only:
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
When God quiets and conceals, no human power can reverse the act or force sight.
THE MEANING
When he quiets, no person can make disorder prevail; when he conceals his face, no one can compel sight. The verse holds a nation and a single person under the same limit. His hiddenness is an act in the sentence, not a vacancy someone else controls.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that human power can force God to appear or restore a conflict he has quieted.
THE ROOT
יַשְׁקִיט
yashqit
GROWS FROM
שקט
sh-q-ṭ
שָׁקַט (shaqat) means to be quiet or at rest; this form means to cause quiet.
“giveth quietness” in this verse is yashqit. Yashqit is causative: he causes quiet. The verse treats quietness as something set in place, then asks who can overturn it.
ALSO GROWS
shaqat: Be quiet, be at rest.
שָׁקַט
The verb’s basic sense shows that quiet is a state that can be brought about.
sheqet: Quiet, rest.
שֶׁקֶט
This noun carries the quietness of the verse as a settled condition.
וְיַסְתֵּר פָּנִים
veyaster panim
GROWS FROM
סתר
s-t-r
סָתַר (satar) means to hide or conceal.
“hideth his face” in this verse is veyaster panim. The verb names concealment, and the face is what is withdrawn from sight. The question is about access: no human demand can make the hidden face visible.
ALSO GROWS
seter: A hiding place or secret.
סֵתֶר
The same root can name the place of concealment, giving hiddenness a sense of shelter as well as absence.
histir: He hid or concealed.
הִסְתִּיר
This related form makes the act of hiding explicit, as it is in the verse.
יַרְשִׁעַ
yarshiaʿ
GROWS FROM
רשע
r-sh-ʿ
רָשַׁע (rashaʿ) means to act wickedly; in this form, to condemn or declare guilty.
“make trouble” in this verse is yarshiaʿ. The English phrase names disruption; the Hebrew also carries the force of condemning or finding guilty. The question reaches beyond disturbance: who can successfully accuse or overturn what God has quieted?
ALSO GROWS
rashaʿ: A wicked or guilty person.
רָשָׁע
This branch carries the root’s language of guilt into a description of a person.
reshaʿ: Wickedness or guilt.
רֶשַׁע
This noun shows the moral weight that can sit beneath the English word trouble.
THE PATTERN
When divine action stills, conceals, or shuts a way, human strength cannot override that limit.
Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again: he shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening.Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust.And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.THE THREAD
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?The same root סתר (satar, to hide or conceal) appears in “hide thy face.” Job names the limit of human sight; Psalm 13 lets the reader feel what that hiddenness is like from within.
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