What Does Job 36:8 Mean in the King James?
And if they be bound in fetters, and be holden in cords of affliction;
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
Here, affliction is pictured as cords that bind and hold a person fast.
THE MEANING
When you are bound, distress is not only an idea or feeling; it is pictured as cords that hold you fast. The image names how suffering can close around you and limit your movement.
THE ROOT
אֲסוּרִים
ʾăsûrîm
GROWS FROM
אסר
ʾ-s-r
To bind, tie, or imprison.
The Hebrew pairs being bound with being caught in cords, making restraint the verse’s central image. The same root names both the act of binding and the person held in bonds.
ALSO GROWS
ʾāsar: To bind, tie, or imprison.
אָסַר
This verb is the seed behind “bound,” giving the restraint a concrete sense.
ʾāsîr: A prisoner; one held in bonds.
אָסִיר
This related word names a person through the same bound condition, showing how completely restraint can shape the situation.
עֹנִי
ʿōnî
GROWS FROM
ענה
ʿ-n-h
To afflict, humble, or bring low.
This root connects affliction with being brought low: suffering is pictured as pressure that weighs a person down. Joined to the cords, it becomes a force that both lowers and confines.
ALSO GROWS
ʿānâ: To afflict, humble, or oppress.
עָנָה
The verb behind “affliction” makes the word active: it describes pressure being laid upon someone.
ʿānî: Poor, afflicted, or lowly.
עָנִי
This related word carries the same low and burdened condition, revealing the depth contained in “affliction.”
THE PATTERN
Scripture pictures affliction as binding and release as the breaking of that restraint.
Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron;Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.THE THREAD
Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron;The Psalm uses the same Hebrew root אסר (ʾ-s-r) behind Job’s “bound,” and joins that binding to affliction and iron. The shared root makes the cords of distress feel like a real fastening around a person.
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