יָרַט

From the study of Job 16:11

Range of meaning

Very rare. BDB lists it under yāraṭ, 'be precipitate, throw headlong', compared with Arabic warraṭa, 'plunge someone into trouble or ruin'. Its only other use is Num 22:32, where Balaam's way is 'reckless' or 'headlong' before the angel. Some lexicons derive the form from a root rāṭâ, which they gloss as 'wring out' or 'throw'. The supplied lemma follows this second option.

Against the English

KJV 'turned me over', WEB 'casts me', BSB 'thrown me', NASB 'tosses me', YLT 'turneth me over'. The versions agree on a motion of throwing or turning over. None says 'wring'.

Used elsewhere in the period

Num 22:32 (yāraṭ). The LXX has ἔρριψέν με, 'he hurled me'. The Vulgate has me tradidit, 'he handed me over', which simply repeats the sense of the first verb.

From the study of Numbers 22:32

Range of meaning

Very rare. Elsewhere only Job 16:11 (“he throws me headlong into the hands of the wicked”). Suggested meanings include “to be precipitate, headlong” (BDB), “to be reckless, ruinous,” “to throw down,” and “to be contrary.” Some connect it to an Arabic root meaning “to throw into ruin.”

Against the English

KJV, ESV, BSB, and WEB have “perverse.” NIV has “reckless.” NASB has “contrary to me.” “Perverse” sounds to modern ears like moral or sexual depravity, a sense the Hebrew does not have. The image is of a course rushing headlong in the wrong direction.

How it drifted

“Perverse” goes back through the KJV to the Vulgate's perversa (“turned the wrong way”), which originally meant contrary and wrong-headed. In modern English the word has moved toward deviance.

Used elsewhere in the period

Septuagint: ouk asteia, “not seemly/pleasing.” Vulgate: perversa … mihique contraria, “perverse and contrary to me.” Targum Onkelos interprets it as “the way is corrupt/contrary before me.” The variety itself shows the uncertainty.