What Does Job 42:17 Mean in the King James?

So Job died, being old and full of days.

Job 42:17 · 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

Job’s days are described as sated: his life reaches fullness, not merely a count.

THE MEANING

Job dies, and the verse still names his days as full. It holds an ending and a life that has reached its measure together; death does not cancel that fullness within the verse.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the assumption that a life’s ending can only be named as loss: here, death and fullness stand together.

THE ROOT

שְׂבַע

śĕvaʿ

GROWS FROM

שׂבע

ś-b-ʿ

To be sated, satisfied, or to have enough.

“full” in this verse is śĕvaʿ. The Hebrew describes more than a high count: the days are sated, as if the life has reached its measure. The same root names both the state of being satisfied and fullness itself, binding Job’s condition to the days he has lived.

ALSO GROWS

śāvēaʿ: A state of having enough or being full.

שָׂבֵעַ

The adjective shares the seed in Job’s phrase, so “full of days” also carries the sense of a life that has reached satisfaction.

śōvaʿ: The state or measure of being full.

שֹׂבַע

This noun makes fullness itself a branch of the same root, showing that the verse describes a condition of completion, not just quantity.

THE PATTERN

Scripture can describe a life’s completion as satisfaction, a fullness that gives its days a measure.

Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people.

Genesis 25:8 · KJVAbraham’s life is also described as full at its ending, using the same Hebrew root for “full.”

And he died in a good old age, full of days, riches, and honour: and Solomon his son reigned in his stead.

1 Chronicles 29:28 · KJVDavid’s days are named as full when his life ends, echoing Job’s description.

With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.

Psalm 91:16 · KJVThe promise uses this same Hebrew root for “satisfy,” connecting length of life with fullness.

THE THREAD

Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people.

Genesis 25:8 · KJV

“Full” in both verses comes from the Hebrew root ⁨שׂבע⁩ (ś-b-ʿ), meaning to be sated or satisfied. Abraham’s days are called full of years; Job’s, full of days, the shared root lets both endings be read as lives that have reached their measure.

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