What Does Job 13:16 Mean in the King James?
He also shall be my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before him.
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
God’s presence is both the place of deliverance and the place where pretense cannot stand.
THE MEANING
God himself is deliverance, and the verse’s confidence rests in standing before him openly. His presence brings the hidden stance into view, where a profane posture cannot hide.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that religious appearance can substitute for an honest standing before God.
THE ROOT
יְשׁוּעָה
yeshuah
GROWS FROM
ישע
y-š-ʿ
To deliver, bringing someone out of constriction into spaciousness.
“salvation” in this verse is yeshuah. The root carries deliverance as being brought out into room to live. By saying God himself is this deliverance, the verse joins rescue to the one before whom Job stands.
ALSO GROWS
yasha: To deliver or bring into safety.
יָשַׁע
The verb shows the active movement contained in “salvation”: someone is brought out.
moshia: A deliverer, one who brings rescue.
מוֹשִׁיעַ
This branch makes the verse’s claim personal: God is not merely the source of deliverance but the one who delivers.
חָנֵף
chaneph
GROWS FROM
חנף
ḥ-n-p
To be profane or polluted.
“hypocrite” in this verse is chaneph. The root suggests more than outward pretending; it carries the sense of a profaned or polluted stance. Beside “deliverance,” it sharpens the verse’s contrast between open standing before God and a posture that cannot inhabit that nearness.
ALSO GROWS
chaneph: A profane or godless person.
חָנֵף
This is the word translated “hypocrite” here; its root adds the sense of a stance made profane.
chanuppah: Profaneness or pollution.
חֲנֻפָּה
This related noun names the condition behind the person’s posture, deepening the contrast with standing openly before God.
THE PATTERN
Approach to God brings the heart into the open, joining nearness with truth rather than religious display.
He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.THE THREAD
A Psalm of David. The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?The word translated “salvation” is יְשׁוּעָה (yeshuah), the same word and root as Job’s “salvation.” Psalm makes the connection vivid: the LORD is not only the source of rescue but is called the speaker’s salvation, opening Job’s line as confidence in God himself.
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