What Does Job 40:2 Mean in the King James?
Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.
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
A charge against God is also a claim to correct God, and the one making it must answer.
THE MEANING
This verse brings your accusation into the open: if you claim that the Almighty is wrong, the claim also asks whether you can instruct him. The one who reproves God is called to answer for the charge, so complaint and accountability occupy the same moment.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that accusation leaves the accuser outside judgment is undone: the one who reproves God is also called to answer.
THE ROOT
הֲרֹב
harov
GROWS FROM
ריב
to contend, dispute, or plead a case
“contendeth” in this verse is harov. The verb makes contention a presented case, not merely an inward feeling of conflict. The question turns that case toward the one who brings it: a claim brought against the Almighty also places its claimant in the exchange.
ALSO GROWS
riv: dispute, controversy
רִיב
This noun keeps the courtroom edge in the verse: the reader is bringing a case.
merivah: strife, quarrel
מְרִיבָה
The same root reaches from dispute into strife, showing how a claim can become a contest.
יִסּוֹר
yissōr
GROWS FROM
יסר
to discipline, correct, or train
The verb translated “instruct” comes from a root whose family holds discipline and correction. The question is whether the human who contests God can claim the role of God’s corrector.
ALSO GROWS
musar: discipline, instruction
מוּסָר
It shows instruction here as shaping correction, not merely transferring information.
yissar: to discipline, chastise
יִסַּר
This related verb sharpens the question: can the one who contests God discipline or correct him?
יַעֲנֶנָּה
yaʿanennāh
GROWS FROM
ענה
to answer or respond
The final verb comes from ענה, the root of answering or responding. It sounds again in Job 38:3, where the demand changes direction: “answer thou me.”
ALSO GROWS
ʿānāh: to answer, respond
עָנָה
The verb names a reply to a call or claim, so the verse closes by requiring a response.
maʿaneh: answer, response
מַעֲנֶה
The noun carries the same act into what is spoken back, linking accusation and answer.
THE PATTERN
A challenge to the maker brings the challenger into the exchange and calls for an answer.
Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?THE THREAD
Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.Job 40:2 ends with ענה (ʿanah), “answer,” and Job 38:3 uses that same root when God says, “answer thou me.” The same word carries the exchange in both directions: the one who brings a case is also summoned to respond.
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