The Meaning of Job 33:28 Explained

Job 33:28

KJV: He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light.

YLT: He hath ransomed my soul From going over into the pit, And my life on the light looketh.'

Darby: He hath delivered my soul from going into the pit, and my life shall see the light.

ASV: He hath redeemed my soul from going into the pit, And my life shall behold the light.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

He will deliver  his soul  from going  into the pit,  and his life  shall see  the light. 

What does Job 33:28 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 33:28 mean?

He will redeem - his soul from going down to the Pit - and his life the light shall see
פָּדָ֣ה [נפשי] (נַ֭פְשׁוֹ) מֵעֲבֹ֣ר בַּשָּׁ֑חַת [וחיתי] (וְ֝חַיָּתוֹ) בָּא֥וֹר תִּרְאֶֽה

פָּדָ֣ה  He  will  redeem 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person masculine singular
Root: פָּדָה  
Sense: to ransom, redeem, rescue, deliver.
[נפשי]  - 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular construct, first person common singular
(נַ֭פְשׁוֹ)  his  soul 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular construct, third person masculine singular
Root: נֶפֶשׁ  
Sense: soul, self, life, creature, person, appetite, mind, living being, desire, emotion, passion.
מֵעֲבֹ֣ר  from  going  down 
Parse: Preposition-m, Verb, Qal, Infinitive construct
Root: עָבַר 
Sense: to pass over or by or through, alienate, bring, carry, do away, take, take away, transgress.
בַּשָּׁ֑חַת  to  the  Pit 
Parse: Preposition-b, Article, Noun, feminine singular
Root: שַׁחַת  
Sense: pit, destruction, grave.
[וחיתי]  - 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Noun, feminine singular construct, first person common singular
(וְ֝חַיָּתוֹ)  and  his  life 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Noun, feminine singular construct, third person masculine singular
Root: חַי 
Sense: living, alive.
בָּא֥וֹר  the  light 
Parse: Preposition-b, Article, Noun, common singular
Root: אֹור  
Sense: light.
תִּרְאֶֽה  shall  see 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person feminine singular
Root: רָאָה 
Sense: to see, look at, inspect, perceive, consider.