What Does Job 8:19 Mean in the King James?
Behold, this is the joy of his way, and out of the earth shall others grow.
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 Hebrew word for “grow” means “sprout”: the earth does not return the vanished one; it sends up another.
THE MEANING
A way can hold joy, while the ground sends up others after it. New growth continues, but it does not bring the vanished one back.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that life’s continuation means the vanished person has been restored. “Others” names succession, not return.
THE ROOT
יִצְמָחוּ
yitsmāḥû
GROWS FROM
צ־מ־ח
ṣ-m-ḥ
to sprout, shoot up, or grow
English “grow” can sound like generic continuation, but יִצְמָחוּ (yitsmāḥû, “they will sprout”) pictures life emerging from soil. The new growth is another shoot: the root holds continuity of growth and difference of identity together.
ALSO GROWS
tsemaḥ: shoot, sprout, or growth
צֶמַח
The same root names what comes up from the ground, not only the act of coming up.
hitzmîaḥ: caused to sprout or made grow
הִצְמִיחַ
This causative form keeps the image concrete: growth is brought forth from a source.
דַּרְכּוֹ
darko
GROWS FROM
ד־ר־ךְ
d-r-kh
to tread, step, or walk
English “way” can sound like an abstract course; דַּרְכּוֹ (darko, “his way”) carries the sense of a path made by treading. The verse places that walked-out path beside the dust from which another sprouts.
ALSO GROWS
derek: way, road, or path
דֶּרֶךְ
The path is linked to repeated steps, making “his way” a course actually walked.
dāraḵ: to tread or step
דָּרַךְ
This verb exposes the physical action beneath “way”: a path is where feet have passed.
THE PATTERN
Life can rise from what falls into the ground, though new growth does not restore what has disappeared.
For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.THE THREAD
For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.The same root צמח (ṣ-m-ḥ, “sprout” or “grow”) appears as the garden causes what is sown to spring forth. Job’s image is stark: one is gone and another rises; Isaiah uses that same sprouting root for righteousness and praise.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us