The Meaning of Job 34:36 Explained

Job 34:36

KJV: My desire is that Job may be tried unto the end because of his answers for wicked men.

YLT: My Father! let Job be tried -- unto victory, Because of answers for men of iniquity,

Darby: Would that Job may be tried unto the end, because of his answers after the manner of evil men!

ASV: Would that Job were tried unto the end, Because of his answering like wicked men.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

My desire  [is that] Job  may be tried  unto the end  because of [his] answers  for wicked  men. 

What does Job 34:36 Mean?

Context Summary

Job 34:1-37 - The Almighty Must Be Just
Elihu stands in Job 34:10 as God's apologist. God's absolute and impartial justice is at all times a matter of untold comfort. There will be no cause of ultimate complaint, but from the lips of the holiest beings in the universe, most able to pass an opinion, the cry will ascend, "Great and marvelous are thy works, O Lord God the Almighty. Righteous and true are thy ways, thou King of the ages"¦. Thy righteous acts have been made manifest," Revelation 15:3-4, r.v.
Ponder those last words. God's righteous acts have not yet been made manifest; it is therefore foolish and wrong to pass judgment upon an unfinished program. Wait, mortal man, until, at the great white throne, God shall unfold His inner reasons. If it is not fit to say to a king, "Thou art vile," how much less to Him who lives through the ages, while the people are shaken and pass away, and the mighty are taken away without hand! [source]

Chapter Summary: Job 34

1  Elihu accuses Job for charging God with injustice
10  God omnipotent cannot be unjust
31  Man must humble himself unto God
34  Elihu reproves Job

What do the individual words in Job 34:36 mean?

Oh that were tried Job to the utmost because [his] answers [are like] those of men wicked
אָבִ֗י יִבָּחֵ֣ן אִיּ֣וֹב עַד־ נֶ֑צַח עַל־ תְּ֝שֻׁבֹ֗ת בְּאַנְשֵׁי־ אָֽוֶן

אָבִ֗י  Oh  that 
Parse: Interjection
Root: אָבִי 
Sense: entreat, longing, desire.
יִבָּחֵ֣ן  were  tried 
Parse: Verb, Nifal, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: בָּחַן  
Sense: to examine, try, prove.
אִיּ֣וֹב  Job 
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: אִיּׄוב  
Sense: a patriarch, the subject of the book of Job.
נֶ֑צַח  the  utmost 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: נֵצַח  
Sense: eminence, perpetuity, strength, victory, enduring, everlastingness.
עַל־  because 
Parse: Preposition
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.
תְּ֝שֻׁבֹ֗ת  [his]  answers  [are  like]  those 
Parse: Noun, feminine plural
Root: תְּשׁוּבָה  
Sense: a recurrence, an answer, return.
בְּאַנְשֵׁי־  of  men 
Parse: Preposition-b, Noun, masculine plural construct
Root: אִישׁ 
Sense: man.
אָֽוֶן  wicked 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: אָוֶן 
Sense: trouble, wickedness, sorrow.