What Does Job 40:11 Mean in the King James?
Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath: and behold every one that is proud, and abase him.
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’s hidden axis is vertical: the one who rises in pride is forcibly brought low.
THE MEANING
This verse confronts you with a severe image of judgment: wrath is cast outward, and every self-exalting person is brought low. The force is deliberate and complete, reaching each person who stands high in pride.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that self-exaltation places a person beyond consequence is undone here: the proud are brought low.
THE ROOT
גֵּאֶה
gēʾeh
GROWS FROM
גאה
גאה (gāʾāh): rise, be high, grow upward; figuratively, be proud.
The word translated “proud” carries the image of rising high; the verse’s command to abase answers that ascent with a descent. English keeps the judgment but hides this vertical pairing.
ALSO GROWS
gāʾāh: To rise, be high, or grow upward.
גָּאָה
The verb gives the proud person’s posture a literal upward movement.
gēʾāh: Proud; the feminine form of the adjective.
גֵּאָה
This related form preserves the sense of being elevated that underlies the verse’s image of pride.
וְהַשְׁפִּילֵהוּ
vehashpilēhū
GROWS FROM
שפל
שפל (shāphal): be low or brought low; in the causative, make low.
“abase” in this verse is vehashpilēhū. The Hebrew carries a concrete image of lowering: the proud one is made low, brought down from the height the verse associates with pride. The abasement is enacted, not merely spoken.
ALSO GROWS
shāphal: To be low or be brought low.
שָׁפַל
This verb shows the downward movement at the heart of “abase.”
shephelāh: Lowland; low country.
שְׁפֵלָה
The related word for low-lying land gives the root a spatial sense that sharpens the verse’s image of descent.
עֶבְרוֹת
ʿevrōt
GROWS FROM
עבר
עבר (ʿāvar): pass over, cross, or move beyond.
The Hebrew word for rage belongs to the עבר family, whose core image is crossing over. Beside the command to cast the rage abroad, anger appears as a force moving outward with violence.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāvar: To pass over or cross.
עָבַר
Its movement beyond a boundary resonates with rage breaking outward in the verse.
ʿēver: The other side; beyond or across.
עֵבֶר
This branch preserves the root’s sense of crossing from one side to another, deepening the image of wrath moving out.
THE PATTERN
Scripture repeatedly turns self-exaltation into a fall: what raises itself is brought low.
The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.A man’s pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.THE THREAD
For thou wilt save the afflicted people; but wilt bring down high looks.“Bring down” in Psalm 18:27 comes from שפל (shāphal, be low or bring low), the same root behind Job’s “abase him.” The psalm holds the two movements together: the afflicted are delivered, and high looks are brought down.
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