What Does Job 39:17 Mean in the King James?
Because God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her understanding.
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 verse pictures understanding as a share God apportions, and does not allot to the ostrich.
THE MEANING
The ostrich’s lack of wisdom is attributed to God, and understanding is not apportioned to her. The verse holds this absence within God’s ordering of living creatures.
THE ROOT
חָלַק
chalaq divide or
GROWS FROM
חלק
To divide, allot, or give a share.
“imparted” in this verse is chalaq divide or. The verb carries the image of dividing out a share. Understanding is pictured as something allotted, so the verse describes a difference in what the ostrich receives.
ALSO GROWS
cheleq: A portion allotted to someone.
חֵלֶק
It makes the verse’s image of understanding as an apportioned share concrete.
machaloqet: A division, often one that separates people into opposing sides.
מַחֲלֹקֶת
It carries the same root’s image of dividing, which underlies the verse’s language of allotment.
הִשָּׁהּ
hishah caused her
GROWS FROM
נשה
To forget; in this form, to cause forgetting.
The word rendered “deprived” carries the shade of forgetting. Together with the next clause, the verse describes wisdom as forgotten and understanding as a share not allotted.
ALSO GROWS
nashah: To forget or cause to forget.
נָשָׁה
This verb family gives the ostrich’s absent wisdom the image of forgetfulness.
Menasheh: A name explained through the same verb in Genesis 41:51.
מְנַשֶּׁה
The name preserves the root’s connection to forgetting.
בִּינָה
binah discernment
GROWS FROM
בין
To discern or distinguish between.
Understanding here is a faculty of discernment: perceiving distinctions. The verse names its absence specifically, rather than saying the ostrich lacks every capacity.
ALSO GROWS
bein: Between or amid distinct things.
בֵּין
The word echoes the root’s image of perceiving what lies between or differs.
mevin: One who understands or discerns.
מֵבִין
It shows understanding as an act of distinguishing, the very faculty the verse says is not allotted to her.
THE PATTERN
Scripture presents wisdom and other capacities as gifts God apportions rather than as abilities every creature receives alike.
And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship,But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.THE THREAD
For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.Both verses use חָכְמָה (chokmah, wisdom); Job’s בִּינָה (binah, discernment) and Proverbs’ תְּבוּנָה (tevunah, understanding) also share the ב־י־ן (b-y-n, discern) root family. Job names wisdom and understanding as absent from the ostrich by God’s apportionment; Proverbs names them as coming from God.
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