What Does Job 8:20 Mean in the King James?
Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, neither will he help the evil doers:
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
God’s hand refuses both to discard what is whole and to strengthen what does harm.
THE MEANING
God does not cast away the person whose life is whole, and does not reinforce the hand of those who do harm. The verse holds these two actions together: what is intact is not discarded, and what harms is not strengthened.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a person must be flawless to be worth keeping, and that those who do harm are entitled to divine support.
THE ROOT
תָּם
tam
GROWS FROM
תמם
to be complete, whole, or finished
The word translated “perfect” carries the sense of wholeness and integrity, not necessarily flawlessness. The root’s branches show that the verse speaks of a life undivided, not a person without any fault.
ALSO GROWS
tamim: whole, sound, blameless
תָּמִים
The same root describes Noah as “perfect” in Genesis 6:9, joining wholeness with walking with God.
tom: integrity, completeness
תֹּם
This noun names the quality of an upright life, making integrity visible beneath the English word “perfect”.
יַחֲזִיק
yachazik
GROWS FROM
חזק
to be strong, make firm, or strengthen
The Hebrew says God will not “take hold of the hand” of evildoers; “help” carries the concrete image of lending strength. The verse is about where divine strength does and does not take hold.
ALSO GROWS
chazaq: be strong, grow firm
חָזַק
This basic form reveals the strength contained in the verb translated “help”.
chizzeq: strengthen, reinforce
חִזֵּק
This form makes clear that taking someone’s hand can mean reinforcing their power.
יִמְאָס
yim'as
GROWS FROM
מאס
to reject, refuse, or spurn
The verb translated “cast away” means to reject or spurn. This is the same root used for the builders’ rejected stone in Psalm 118:22, where rejection does not determine what the stone becomes.
ALSO GROWS
ma'us: rejected, despised
מָאוּס
This form names what has been rejected, showing the root’s force beyond the act of casting something away.
ma'asu: they rejected
מָאֲסוּ
Psalm 118:22 uses this form for the builders’ rejection of the stone, echoing Job’s word directly.
THE PATTERN
The divine hand preserves what is whole and withholds its strength from what does harm.
Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.The way of the LORD is strength to the upright: but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity.The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:THE THREAD
The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.Job’s “cast away” and Psalm’s “refused” come from מאס (ma’as), meaning to reject or spurn. The same rejection-word Job says God will not enact appears where a rejected stone becomes the cornerstone, so rejection does not define the wholeness or worth of what is rejected.
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