What Does Job 5:17 Mean in the King James?
Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty:
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 calls you flourishing even while God’s correction is at work, because reproof can bring what is true into view.
THE MEANING
You can be in the midst of correction and still be flourishing. The Almighty’s discipline carries real weight, yet correction can also instruct and clarify; it does not by itself mean you are rejected.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being corrected means God has rejected you, or that you cannot flourish until every correction is over.
THE ROOT
יוֹכִיחֶנּוּ
yōkhiḥennū
GROWS FROM
יכח
y-kh-ḥ
To decide, prove, or reprove; here, to correct.
“correcteth” in this verse is yōkhiḥennū. The root holds correction together with proving and judging, giving the word a clarifying edge. The correction can expose what needs to change, so the person receiving it remains within the verse’s picture of flourishing.
ALSO GROWS
hōkhîaḥ: Prove, show, or reprove
הוֹכִיחַ
This form can mean bringing a matter forward to be judged, so correction carries the force of making something clear.
tōkhēḥāh: Reproof or correction
תּוֹכֵחָה
The related noun names reproof itself, linking correction to a judgment about the course being taken.
מוּסַר
mūsār
GROWS FROM
יסר
y-s-r
To discipline, admonish, or instruct.
“chastening” in this verse is mūsār. The English word can foreground punishment, and this root does include real discipline. Related forms also carry instruction, holding the hard weight of correction together with its teaching purpose.
ALSO GROWS
yāsar: To discipline or correct
יָסַר
The verb shows that musar is an active process of correction, not merely a label for pain.
yissūrîm: Chastisements or afflictions
יִסּוּרִים
This related form keeps the painful edge of discipline in view while musar also carries the sense of instruction.
אַשְׁרֵי
ashrei
GROWS FROM
אשר
ʾ-sh-r
To advance or go forward; here, flourishing.
English “happy” can sound like a passing feeling, while ashrei declares a flourishing condition. The root family can also speak of a step or of someone being called fortunate, giving this flourishing a sense of movement and recognition.
ALSO GROWS
ʾishrūnî: They call me happy or fortunate
אִשְּׁרוּנִי
This related form shows happiness as something recognized in a person’s life, not only a private mood.
ʾāshūr: A step or footstep
אָשֻׁר
This related word for a step connects flourishing with forward movement.
THE PATTERN
Divine correction is held together with instruction and belonging, and can coexist with flourishing.
Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law;For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.THE THREAD
My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction:This verse contains both Hebrew word families: מוּסָר (musar, discipline or instruction) and תּוֹכֵחָה (tokhechah, reproof). Together they open Job’s line further: discipline instructs, while reproof brings the matter into view.
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