What Does Job 42:13 Mean in the King James?

He had also seven sons and three daughters.

Job 42:13 · KJV

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 same count returns, but the verse does not call these children the ones who were lost.

THE MEANING

This line lets restoration and grief stand together: sons and daughters fill Job’s household again, yet the story does not say his first children return. What is rebuilt is real, and the loss remains real.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the lie that renewed life makes the earlier loss insignificant: a household can be built again without replacing the people who are gone.

THE ROOT

בָּנִים

banim

GROWS FROM

בנה

banah

build, establish

The noun ⁨בָּנִים⁩ (banim, sons) is traditionally linked to ⁨בָּנָה⁩ (banah, to build). That link lets the count carry an image of a household being built again, without making the new children interchangeable with those lost.

ALSO GROWS

ben: The singular form of “sons,” linked to the root ⁨בנה⁩ (banah, build).

בֵּן

It connects a child with the building and continuance of a household.

binyan: A structure or building formed from the same root, ⁨בנה⁩ (banah, build).

בִּנְיָן

It makes the renewed household an image of something being built again after loss.

THE PATTERN

Renewal can restore a household’s life while leaving loss visible.

And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters.

Job 1:2 · KJVThe matching count at the book’s opening makes the renewed household visible while leaving the intervening loss intact.

And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher of thine old age: for thy daughter in law, which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath born him.

Ruth 4:15 · KJVNaomi’s life is nourished through renewed kinship, even as the verse keeps her grief and years of loss in view.

For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.

Luke 15:24 · KJVThe father celebrates his son’s return without pretending the separation was unreal.

THE THREAD

And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters.

Job 1:2 · KJV

At the book’s opening, Job has the same seven sons and three daughters; after the deaths described later, the same count appears again. The shared words for sons and daughters expose the difference between the number returning and the people returning.

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