What Does Job 15:15 Mean?
Behold, he does not stand firm in his set-apart ones; and the heavens are not clear in his eyes.
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
Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.THE KEY
Even the heavens cannot claim purity on their own; being set apart places nothing beyond God’s gaze.
THE MEANING
The verse places even what is set apart under God’s searching sight: no created rank secures itself as clean. The heavens themselves are not the measure of purity; they too are seen by God.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that a holy name or exalted status makes something pure beyond scrutiny dissolves here.
THE ROOT
יַאֲמִין
ya’amin
GROWS FROM
א־מ־ן
ʾ-m-n
To be firm or steady; in this verb form, to regard as reliable and trust.
“does not stand firm” in this verse is ya’amin. Trust rests on what is firm enough to bear weight. The verse says that even those called set apart are not treated as a self-sufficient foundation of purity before God.
ALSO GROWS
emunah: Trust, firmness, steadiness.
אֱמוּנָה
Its shared root links trust with what is firm, giving “putteth no trust” the sense of withholding reliance.
amen: Truly; firm, sure.
אָמֵן
The familiar word “Amen” carries the same language of firmness, the quality this verse says no created status can guarantee.
קְדֹשָׁיו
qedoshav
GROWS FROM
ק־ד־שׁ
q-d-sh
To set apart, mark as distinct or sacred.
“set-apart ones” in this verse is qedoshav. The verse names these beings by their set-apartness, yet that distinction does not shield them from scrutiny. Their status remains within the same divine gaze that examines the heavens.
ALSO GROWS
qodesh: Set-apartness; what is sacred.
קֹדֶשׁ
It names the quality carried by “his holy ones,” while the verse shows that sacred distinction is not self-certifying purity.
miqdash: Sanctuary; a set-apart place.
מִקְדָּשׁ
The shared root connects set-apart people with a set-apart place, showing that designation marks distinction without removing anything from God’s sight.
זַכּוּ
zakku
GROWS FROM
ז־כ־ה
z-k-h
To be clear, pure, or innocent.
The word describes cleanness as clarity before God, not merely a reputation or rank. Even the heavens are said not to be clear in his sight, so purity is not something creation can certify for itself.
ALSO GROWS
zakh: Clear, pure.
זַךְ
This adjective shares the root’s language of clearness and makes the verse’s image of purity concrete.
zikkah: Cleanse or clear.
זִכָּה
This verbal branch shows the root can describe becoming clear, illuminating the verse’s concern with what is actually pure before God.
THE PATTERN
Under God’s judgment, neither created status nor self-assessment can certify purity.
Do not enter into judgment with your servant, for no living one is aligned before your face.For I see nothing alongside myself, yet in this I have not been aligned. The one who judges me is the Lord.For all have missed the mark, and fall short of the weight of God.THE THREAD
Behold, he does not lean his weight on his servants, and he sets folly upon his messengers.“Put no trust” repeats the same Hebrew root, אמן (ʾ-m-n), that appears in Job 15:15. The shared wording extends the claim from servants and angels to the set-apart ones and the heavens: no created standing is a guarantee of purity before God.
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