What Does Job 34:36 Mean in the King James?
My desire is that Job may be tried unto the end because of his answers for wicked men.
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 Hebrew phrase for “unto the end” can mean “to perpetuity,” leaving Job under a test with no stated stopping point.
THE MEANING
A demand for proof can keep extending itself until every answer becomes further evidence of guilt. Elihu wants Job tested to the end because he reads Job’s replies as siding with wicked men; the examination has no stated point at which an answer can close the case.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undercuts the belief that asking for another test is necessarily impartial: Elihu’s request grows from his judgment of Job’s answers.
THE ROOT
נֶצַח
netsaḥ
GROWS FROM
נצח
n-ṣ-ḥ
In this noun, enduring duration or perpetuity.
KJV’s “end” sounds like a point at which the test concludes, but עַד־נֶצַח (ad-netsaḥ, “to perpetuity”) can mean “forever.” Elihu’s wording leaves the limit unset: the test is imagined as lasting, without a specified close.
ALSO GROWS
nētsaḥ: Continuance; enduring duration.
נֵצַח
This duration sense is carried by the word translated “end” in Job’s sentence.
lanetsaḥ: Forever; perpetually.
לָנֶצַח
Isaiah 57:16 uses this form for “for ever,” showing how this root can express an unbounded span.
יִבָּחֵן
yibbāḥēn
GROWS FROM
בחן
b-ḥ-n
To examine, test, or assay.
“tried” in this verse is yibbāḥēn. The form means “may be examined” or “may be tested.” The same root is used for examining the heart; here, the stated reason for testing Job is his replies, so the examiner’s purpose matters.
ALSO GROWS
beḥānēnî: Examine me; test me.
בְּחָנֵנִי
Psalm 26:2 uses this form in a request for the heart and inner life to be examined.
bōḥēn: One who examines or tests.
בֹּחֵן
Jeremiah 17:10 calls the LORD the one who tests the heart, making the examiner explicit.
תְּשׁוּבֹתָיו
teshuvotav
GROWS FROM
שוב
shuv
To turn or return; from this root, a reply is something returned in response.
The word rendered “answers” is related to שׁוּב (shuv, “turn” or “return”). Hebrew keeps the sense of words coming back in response, so Job’s speech remains part of an exchange even as Elihu treats it as evidence against him.
ALSO GROWS
shuv: Turn; return.
שׁוּב
This verbal root supplies the image of something coming back, which underlies the word for a reply.
teshuvah: A return; an answer or reply.
תְּשׁוּבָה
Job’s plural form, תְּשׁוּבֹתָיו (teshuvotav, “his answers”), belongs to this same word family.
THE PATTERN
Testing brings the tested person into view while also revealing the purpose of the one demanding the test.
Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts.That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:THE THREAD
Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.Job’s “may be tried” and the psalm’s “Examine me” share בחן (b-ḥ-n, “examine or test”). The same root appears in a request for truth to be exposed and in Elihu’s demand that Job’s trial continue.
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