What Does Job 36:2 Mean in the King James?
Suffer me a little, and I will shew thee that I have yet to speak on God’s behalf.
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 verb behind “suffer me a little” also means “encircle,” so the requested pause becomes a small space holding words that have not yet been spoken.
THE MEANING
A little time remains, and the words concerning God are not exhausted. The verse meets the reader in the moment speech feels complete and keeps open the possibility that more can be made known.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
That the matter concerning God is already fully spoken.
THE ROOT
כַּתַּר
kattar
GROWS FROM
כתר
k-t-r
To encircle or surround; also to wait or tarry.
“Suffer me” in this verse is kattar. The verb is כַּתַּר (kattar, wait or tarry), from כתר (k-t-r, encircle or surround). Waiting here carries an image of a bounded interval: a little enclosure around speech that is still coming.
ALSO GROWS
kitteruni: They encircled me.
כִּתְּרוּנִי
In Psalm 22:12, this form shows the root’s sense of surrounding.
keter: Crown.
כֶּתֶר
A crown encircles the head, preserving the root’s image of surrounding.
מִלִּים
millim
GROWS FROM
מלל
m-l-l
To speak or utter.
The noun מִלִּים (millim, words) comes from מלל (m-l-l, speak or utter); Job 32:18 uses the same noun where the KJV says matter. Hebrew leaves the remaining words visible: the content itself is still present.
ALSO GROWS
millah: A word or utterance.
מִלָּה
This singular form makes explicit that the verse’s remaining speech consists of words.
temallel: You speak or utter.
תְּמַלֶּל
In Job 8:2, this verb from the same root directly names the act of speaking.
THE PATTERN
Speech is not exhausted by the present moment; a brief pause can hold words still waiting to be spoken.
For I am full of matter, the spirit within me constraineth me.A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.THE THREAD
For I am full of matter, the spirit within me constraineth me.Both verses contain מִלִּים (millim, words). The KJV renders the word as matter here and reshapes the phrase in Job 36:2 as speech, connecting what is held within with what remains to be said.
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