The Meaning of Job 33:23 Explained

Job 33:23

KJV: If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to shew unto man his uprightness:

YLT: If there is by him a messenger, An interpreter -- one of a thousand, To declare for man his uprightness:

Darby: If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to shew unto man his duty;

ASV: If there be with him an angel, An interpreter, one among a thousand, To show unto man what is right for him;

KJV Reverse Interlinear

If there  be a messenger  with him, an interpreter,  one  among a thousand,  to shew  unto man  his uprightness: 

What does Job 33:23 Mean?

Context Summary

Job 33:1-33 - The Interpreter
It is not wonderful that Elihu has been mistaken for the Mediator Himself, so helpfully does he interpose between Job and his Maker. He dwells especially on his own likeness to Job in his manhood, and quotes this as the reason why he could specially help him: I also am formed out of the clay. So also our High Priest is man. Elihu takes up Job's words protesting his innocence, and he insists that Job was not right in those protestations, or in the conclusions that he drew from them.
Then follows one of the grandest passages in the book. Elihu tells how God speaks in nature and through conscience, and is often disregarded; and how then he speaks by revelation, opening the ears of men to withdraw them from their purpose. He shows that God often lays a man upon a bed of pain, that He may speak to his heart. Happy is the afflicted if an interpreter stands beside him to point the path to repentance. Finally, broken and penitent, he turns back to God, and sees His face with joy, and sings before men the story of his restoration. Thus Elihu argues that affliction is often sent as discipline to read to man God's deepest truth. [source]

Chapter Summary: Job 33

1  Elihu offers himself instead of God to reason with Job
8  He excuses God from giving man an account of his ways, by his greatness
14  God calls man to repentance by visions, by afflictions, and by his ministry
31  He incites Job to attention

What do the individual words in Job 33:23 mean?

If there is for him a messenger a mediator one among a thousand to show man His uprightness
אִם־ יֵ֤שׁ עָלָ֨יו ׀ מַלְאָ֗ךְ מֵלִ֗יץ אֶחָ֥ד מִנִּי־ אָ֑לֶף לְהַגִּ֖יד לְאָדָ֣ם יָשְׁרֽוֹ

יֵ֤שׁ  there  is 
Parse: Adverb
Root: יֵשׁ  
Sense: being, existence, substance, there is or are.
עָלָ֨יו ׀  for  him 
Parse: Preposition, third person masculine singular
Root: עַל 
Sense: upon, on the ground of, according to, on account of, on behalf of, concerning, beside, in addition to, together with, beyond, above, over, by, on to, towards, to, against.
מַלְאָ֗ךְ  a  messenger 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: מַלְאָךְ  
Sense: messenger, representative.
מֵלִ֗יץ  a  mediator 
Parse: Verb, Hifil, Participle, masculine singular
Root: לִיץ 
Sense: to scorn, make mouths at, talk arrogantly.
אֶחָ֥ד  one 
Parse: Number, masculine singular
Root: אֶחָד  
Sense: one (number).
אָ֑לֶף  a  thousand 
Parse: Number, masculine singular
Root: אֶלֶף 
Sense: a thousand.
לְהַגִּ֖יד  to  show 
Parse: Preposition-l, Verb, Hifil, Infinitive construct
Root: נָגַד  
Sense: to be conspicuous, tell, make known.
לְאָדָ֣ם  man 
Parse: Preposition-l, Noun, masculine singular
Root: אָדָם 
Sense: man, mankind.
יָשְׁרֽוֹ  His  uprightness 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct, third person masculine singular
Root: יׄשֶׁר  
Sense: straightness, uprightness.