What Does Job 14:13 Mean?
Would that you hide me in the grave, and store me away until the burning of your anger returns, and set for me a carved bound, and remember me!
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!THE KEY
The verb for “hide” can also mean “store up,” so Job’s plea makes even the grave a hidden interval held until a set time.
THE MEANING
The verse gives you language for wanting to be hidden in the grave until overwhelming anger passes, while still asking for a boundary around that interval. It leaves the grave’s severity intact; its last movement is a plea to be remembered.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that wanting to disappear means hope is gone: the speaker asks for concealment, but still asks for a limit and to be remembered.
THE ROOT
תַּצְפִּנֵנִי
tats'pinenî
GROWS FROM
צפן
tsaphan
hide, conceal, store up, treasure
“store me away” in this verse is tats'pinenî. The verb rendered “hide” also means “store up” or “treasure.” That does not make the grave less severe; it adds the possibility of being concealed for a time, which fits the request for a limit and later remembrance.
ALSO GROWS
tsaphan: hide, conceal; also store up or treasure
צָפַן
The verb names both concealment and storing, so Job’s request can carry the sense of being kept out of sight.
tsafun: hidden, concealed, kept in reserve
צָפוּן
This form describes what is held beyond sight, echoing Job’s plea for concealment until the appointed interval ends.
שׁוּב
shuv
GROWS FROM
שוב
shuv
turn back, return
“returns” in this verse is shuv. The phrase translated “thy wrath be past” uses shuv, “turn” or “return.” The verse pictures the crisis through a change of direction: the anger turns, and the hidden interval has an end.
ALSO GROWS
shuv: turn back, return
שׁוּב
This is the verb in the phrase about the anger passing; its movement gives the waiting a turning point.
teshuvah: return, turning
תְּשׁוּבָה
This noun makes the same root’s motion explicit: what is turned away can come to a point of return.
וְתִזְכְּרֵנִי
vetizkereni
GROWS FROM
זכר
zakar
remember, recall, call to mind
“remember me” in this verse is vetizkereni. The branches of zakar include memorial and mention. Job’s prayer places a request for active regard at the far end of concealment.
ALSO GROWS
zikkaron: memorial, remembrance
זִכָּרוֹן
A memorial makes remembrance visible and lasting, echoing Job’s plea to remain in God’s regard.
hizkir: mention, bring to mind
הִזְכִּיר
This form connects remembering with calling someone or something to mind, giving the plea a relational edge.
THE PATTERN
Concealment and waiting can have a limit, while the plea for remembrance remains alive.
Go, my people, enter your inner rooms, and shut your doors behind you. Hide yourself for a little moment, until the seething passes over.To the chief Musician, Al-taschith, Michtam of David, when he fled from Saul in the cave. Bend toward me, O God, bend toward me, for in you my living soul takes shelter. In the shadow of your wings I take shelter until the ruin passes over.And a white robe is given to each of them, and it is said to them that they rest yet a little time, until they are filled up, both their fellow servants and their brothers, who are about to be killed as they themselves were.THE THREAD
What is a frail one that you remember him, and the son of man that you visit him?“Mindful of him” comes from זכר (zakar, “remember”), the same root as Job’s “remember me.” Psalm asks why a mortal remains in God’s regard; Job gives that longing its stark edge by asking to be remembered while hidden in Sheol.
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