What Does Job 13:14 Mean in the King James?
Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in mine hand?
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The word rendered “life” is nephesh (נַפְשִׁי, nafshi, “my living soul”), so Job puts his whole living self in his palm.
THE MEANING
The question gives bodily weight to exposure: flesh at the teeth, the living self in the palm. Speaking while vulnerable places the whole person at risk, and the verse lets that danger remain visible.
THE ROOT
נַפְשִׁי
nafshi
GROWS FROM
נפש
The root names the living soul or self, rather than an abstract life; its related verb נָפַשׁ (naphash) means “be refreshed.”
The word behind “life” carries the sense of a living soul, not a detachable possession; Job’s image keeps it embodied and at risk. Its verbal relative נָפַשׁ (naphash, “be refreshed”) places vulnerability and continued living within the same root family.
ALSO GROWS
nephesh: Living soul; a living being or self
נֶפֶשׁ
Here the possessive form נַפְשִׁי (nafshi, “my living soul”) is the self Job places in his palm.
naphash: Be refreshed; take refreshment
נָפַשׁ
The same root also names refreshment, while this verse shows the living self exposed to danger.
אֶשָּׂא
ʾeśśāʾ
GROWS FROM
נשא
Lift, carry, bear.
The verb rendered “take” can mean lift, bear, or carry, so Job’s line pictures him carrying his own flesh into danger. The same root forms מַשָּׂא (massa, “burden”), making the body’s weight audible inside the image.
ALSO GROWS
massa: Burden; load
מַשָּׂא
A load is something borne, echoing the way Job pictures his flesh as something he carries in his teeth.
nasi: Chief; prince
נָשִׂיא
This word is formed from the same lift-and-carry root; here that lifting motion falls on Job’s own exposed body.
THE PATTERN
Scripture portrays the living self as something exposed, entrusted, or surrendered, rather than as an abstract possession.
For he did put his life in his hand, and slew the Philistine, and the LORD wrought a great salvation for all Israel: thou sawest it, and didst rejoice: wherefore then wilt thou sin against innocent blood, to slay David without a cause?Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth.But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.THE THREAD
In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.The Hebrew word translated “soul” here is nephesh (נֶפֶשׁ, living soul), the same word rendered “life” in Job 13:14. The image pivots: Job says he places his own living soul in his palm, while this verse says every living soul is in God’s hand.
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