What Does Job 27:13 Mean?
This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the inheritance of the fierce ones, which they take from the Almighty.
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
This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage of oppressors, which they shall receive of the Almighty.THE KEY
The oppressor’s inheritance is presented as a share received from the Almighty, not a possession power can author for itself.
THE MEANING
The verse places the oppressor’s portion and inheritance in relation to God. What they receive is an allotted share from the Almighty, not an outcome they define by their own power.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The oppressor’s power is not the final authority over what they inherit; their share is received from the Almighty.
THE ROOT
חֵלֶק
ḥēleq
GROWS FROM
חלק
ḥ-l-q
To divide, apportion, or assign a share.
English makes “portion” sound like a thing, while its root also carries the act of dividing and assigning a share. The verse presents the oppressor’s lot as apportioned, then names the Almighty as its source.
ALSO GROWS
ḥālaq: To divide or apportion.
חָלַק
The verb makes visible the act behind a portion: a share is set apart from a whole.
maḥălōqet: Division or dispute.
מַחֲלֹקֶת
This branch carries the root’s dividing sense into conflict over shares.
נַחֲלָה
naḥălāh
GROWS FROM
נחל
n-ḥ-l
To inherit, possess, or receive as an inheritance.
The heritage in this verse is a possession received, not merely a legacy left behind. Beside “portion,” it describes both the share assigned and what becomes someone’s inheritance.
ALSO GROWS
nāḥal: To inherit or take possession.
נָחַל
The verb shows the movement from receiving an inheritance to possessing it.
naḥălāh: Inheritance or possession.
נַחֲלָה
This noun names the received share that the verse says belongs to the oppressors’ lot.
עָרִיצִים
ʿārîṣîm
GROWS FROM
ערץ
ʿ-r-ṣ
To dread, tremble, or inspire terror.
“the fierce ones” in this verse is ʿārîṣîm. The Hebrew word points to ruthless, terror-bringing people, adding the dread their power spreads to the sense of oppression. The verse’s portion reaches those who make others live under fear.
ALSO GROWS
ʿārîṣ: A ruthless or violent person; a tyrant.
עָרִיץ
This singular form names the kind of person described in the verse’s plural “oppressors.”
ʿāraṣ: To dread, tremble, or terrify.
עָרַץ
The verb reveals the terror contained in the oppressors’ way of exercising power.
THE PATTERN
Scripture presents inheritance as an allotted share whose source and security are held in relation to God.
This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the inheritance spoken for him by God.The LORD is the portion of my share and of my cup; you hold fast my lot.into an inheritance that cannot be ruined, and cannot be stained, and cannot wither, kept in the heavens for you,THE THREAD
For the LORD's portion is his people; Jacob is the measuring cord of his inheritance.The same portion and inheritance language appears here, but God is the one who holds the share: his people are his portion. The shared roots frame possession as belonging held in relation to God, rather than something defined by power alone.
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