The Meaning of Job 33:29 Explained

Job 33:29

KJV: Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes with man,

YLT: Lo, all these doth God work, Twice -- thrice with man,

Darby: Lo, all these things worketh God twice, thrice, with man,

ASV: Lo, all these things doth God work, Twice, yea thrice, with a man,

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Lo, all these [things] worketh  God  oftentimes  with man, 

What does Job 33:29 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 33:29 mean?

behold all These things does God two or three times to a man
הֶן־ כָּל־ אֵ֭לֶּה יִפְעַל־ אֵ֑ל פַּעֲמַ֖יִם שָׁל֣וֹשׁ עִם־ גָּֽבֶר

הֶן־  behold 
Parse: Interjection
Root: הֵן  
Sense: behold, lo, though hypothetical part.
אֵ֭לֶּה  These  things 
Parse: Pronoun, common plural
Root: אֵהֶל 
Sense: these.
יִפְעַל־  does 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: פָּעַל  
Sense: to do, make.
אֵ֑ל  God 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: אֵל 
Sense: god, god-like one, mighty one.
פַּעֲמַ֖יִם  two 
Parse: Noun, fd
Root: פַּעַם  
Sense: stroke, beat, foot, step, anvil, occurrence.
שָׁל֣וֹשׁ  or  three  times 
Parse: Number, feminine singular
Root: מִשְׁלֹשׁ 
Sense: three, triad.
גָּֽבֶר  a  man 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: גֶּבֶר  
Sense: man, strong man, warrior (emphasising strength or ability to fight).