שְׂעִפִּים

From the study of Job 20:2

Range of meaning

Thoughts that are divided, disquieting or anxious. The word is related to sə‘ippîm, "branches" (Ezek 31:6, 8), and to forms meaning "divided opinions" or "double-minded." The image is a mind that branches off in different directions. It is never neutral reasoning.

Against the English

KJV, WEB, YLT and ESV say simply "thoughts," which sounds neutral. BSB ("anxious thoughts"), NASB ("disquieting thoughts") and NIV ("troubled thoughts") keep the emotional colour.

How it drifted

English "thoughts" is a general word for anything in the mind. The Hebrew word is narrower and full of feeling: it names unsettled, restless thinking.

Used elsewhere in the period

Job 4:13 (Eliphaz's night terror: "amid disquieting thoughts from visions of the night"). The related forms sə‘ippîm in 1 Kgs 18:21 ("How long will you hobble between two opinions?") and sē‘ăpîm in Ps 119:113 ("the double-minded"). The longer form śar‘appîm appears in Ps 94:19 ("when my anxious thoughts multiply") and Ps 139:23 ("know my anxious thoughts"). The Vulgate catches the sense: cogitationes meae variae, "my thoughts, pulled every way."

From the study of 1 Kings 18:21

Range of meaning

From the root s-ʿ-p, "to branch, divide." Related words: səʿappâ / sarʿappâ, "bough, branch" (Ezek 31:6, 8); səʿîp, "cleft" of a rock (Judg 15:8, 11; Isa 2:21); sēʿăpîm, "divided, double-minded people" (Ps 119:113, "I hate the double-minded"). The exact form here is rare, and its precise picture is uncertain.

Against the English

"Opinions" (KJV, BSB, NIV, NASB, ESV) is an interpretation drawn from Ps 119:113's "divided" thoughts. YLT's "branches" follows the tree sense. Some modern lexicons and commentators, and the gloss in the supplied source, suggest "crutches" (forked sticks). WEB's "sides" is a neutral compromise.

How it drifted

"Opinions" is a fair inference from the root's "divided" sense, but modern English "opinion" means a private intellectual view. That moves the problem from loyalty and worship into the head.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint renders it "upon both your hams" (ἐπ' ἀμφοτέραις ταῖς ἰγνύαις, the back of the knee or thigh), which reads it as the two legs. The Vulgate has in duas partes, "in two parts/directions." The Aramaic Targum is generally understood to read it as being split into two factions.

From the study of Job 4:13

Range of meaning

Disquieting, anxious or divided thoughts. It is probably connected to the noun for 'branch, bough' (sə'appâ, Ezek 31:6, 8), so the picture is thoughts that branch and split, mental restlessness. A related verb (sā'ap) describes a person 'divided' or 'double-minded' (Ps 119:113 sē'ăpîm, 'double-minded people'; 1 Kgs 18:21, 'limping between two opinions'). A longer form, sar'appîm, means 'anxieties' (Ps 94:19, 'when my anxious thoughts multiply'; Ps 139:23, 'know my anxious thoughts').

Against the English

KJV, WEB, YLT and ESV say only 'thoughts', which loses the agitation. BSB and NASB ('disquieting') and NIV ('disquieting dreams') keep it. BSB attaches 'disquieting' to the visions rather than to the thoughts, which blurs the Hebrew order a little: first the troubled thoughts, then their source in the visions.

How it drifted

In 1611, 'thoughts' could carry a sense of anxious care (compare KJV Matt 6:25, 'take no thought'). Modern English 'thoughts' sounds neutral and reflective, so the restless note has dropped out.

Used elsewhere in the period

In Job it appears again only at 20:2, where Zophar says 'my troubled thoughts (sə'ippay) make me answer', meaning he is inwardly agitated. The longer forms in Ps 94:19 and 139:23 support the sense of anxiety. In BDB and HALOT the core sense is 'disquieting thoughts'.