The Meaning of Job 4:12 Explained

Job 4:12

KJV: Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof.

YLT: And unto me a thing is secretly brought, And receive doth mine ear a little of it.

Darby: Now to me a word was secretly brought, and mine ear received a whisper thereof.

ASV: Now a thing was secretly brought to me, And mine ear received a whisper thereof.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Now a thing  was secretly brought  to me, and mine ear  received  a little  thereof. 

What does Job 4:12 Mean?

Context Summary

Job 4:1-21 - "shall Mortal Man Be More Just Than God?"
The first cycle of speeches is opened by Eliphaz. It must be remembered that he and the two others believed that special suffering resulted from and was the sign of special sin. Job's calamities, in the light of that thought, seemed to prove that he who had been considered a paragon of perfection was not what they had supposed. According to their philosophy, if only he would confess his sin, all would be well and the sun would shine again upon his path.
Eliphaz recounts a visitation, in a night vision, from the unseen world, which is described with marvelous power. Emphasis is laid on the infinite distance between God and man, and on the impossibility of a mortal being accounted just in the presence of divine purity. Of course the suggestion is that Job was suffering the penalty of sin which, though it had eluded human eyes, was naked and open before God. An angel seems dark against God's pure light, and if an angel is deficient, how much more man! [source]

Chapter Summary: Job 4

1  Eliphaz reproves Job that the innocent do not suffer
7  He teaches God's judgments to be not for the righteous, but for the wicked
12  His fearful vision to humble the excellency of creatures before God

What do the individual words in Job 4:12 mean?

And to me a word was secretly brought and received my ear a whisper of it
וְ֭אֵלַי דָּבָ֣ר יְגֻנָּ֑ב וַתִּקַּ֥ח אָ֝זְנִ֗י שֵׁ֣מֶץ מֶֽנְהֽוּ

וְ֭אֵלַי  And  to  me 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Preposition, first person common singular
Root: אֶל  
Sense: to, toward, unto (of motion).
דָּבָ֣ר  a  word 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: דָּבָר  
Sense: speech, word, speaking, thing.
יְגֻנָּ֑ב  was  secretly  brought 
Parse: Verb, Pual, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: גָּנַב  
Sense: to steal, steal away, carry away.
וַתִּקַּ֥ח  and  received 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Qal, Consecutive imperfect, third person feminine singular
Root: יָקַח 
Sense: to take, get, fetch, lay hold of, seize, receive, acquire, buy, bring, marry, take a wife, snatch, take away.
אָ֝זְנִ֗י  my  ear 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular construct, first person common singular
Root: אֹזֶן  
Sense: ear, as part of the body.
שֵׁ֣מֶץ  a  whisper 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: שֵׁמֶץ  
Sense: whisper, little.
מֶֽנְהֽוּ  of  it 
Parse: Preposition, third person masculine singular
Root: מִן 
Sense: from, out of, on account of, off, on the side of, since, above, than, so that not, more than.

What are the major concepts related to Job 4:12?

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