What Does Job 6:20 Mean in the King James?
They were confounded because they had hoped; they came thither, and were ashamed.
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
Here, hope is trust seeking security, and the arrival that should confirm it becomes the moment of shame.
THE MEANING
When you trust something as secure, reaching it can reveal the gap between what you expected and what it can provide. The verse lets disappointment remain sharp: the trust is real, and so is the shame.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that sincere confidence guarantees its object will come through. Their trust is real, yet they still arrive at shame.
THE ROOT
בָּטָחוּ
bāṭāḥû
GROWS FROM
בטח
b-ṭ-ḥ
To trust, feel secure, or rely with confidence.
“hoped” in this verse is bāṭāḥû. This is more than a passing wish: the verb carries the sense of placing confidence in something for security. The verse’s painful turn is that reaching what they trusted does not confirm that security; it exposes its failure.
ALSO GROWS
beṭaḥ: Security, safety
בֶּטַח
This branch makes the hope in Job feel like an expectation of safety, not a vague desire.
mivṭāḥ: Confidence, refuge
מִבְטָח
The word’s family connects trust with the place or thing someone treats as refuge, the very reliance this verse shows collapsing.
THE PATTERN
Scripture distinguishes trust placed in fragile supports, which collapses, from trust placed in the LORD, which is not put to shame.
Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.THE THREAD
O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me.Psalm 25 joins the same Hebrew root בטח (bāṭaḥ, trust) to בּוֹשׁ (bûsh, be ashamed), the root behind Job’s “confounded.” Job shows trust followed by shame; the psalm holds that same pair together as a plea for trust not to end that way.
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