What Does Job 14:16 Mean in the King James?
For now thou numberest my steps: dost thou not watch over my sin?
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 same gaze that counts each step also keeps the missing in its account.
THE MEANING
You are held in a gaze that counts each step and keeps your missing in view. The question makes that attention feel like scrutiny: no movement outruns the account, and wrongdoing remains under watch.
THE ROOT
תִּסְפֹּר
tispor
GROWS FROM
ספר
to count, recount, or record
“numberest” in this verse is tispor. The verb for counting steps grows from the same root as words for a book or written record. The verse’s gaze feels exact: each movement can enter an account.
ALSO GROWS
sefer: book, scroll, or record
סֵפֶר
The shared root links counting with keeping a written account.
sofer: scribe, one who records
סֹפֵר
The count can become a record made and kept.
תִּשְׁמֹר
tishmor
GROWS FROM
שׁמר
to keep, guard, or watch
“watch over” in this verse is tishmor. Shamar carries the sense of keeping something under watch. With “my sin” as its object, the attention here does not sound like protection; it holds the missing in view.
ALSO GROWS
shomer: keeper, guard, or watchman
שֹׁמֵר
The same root names one who keeps watch, giving weight to the verse’s image of scrutiny.
mishmeret: guard, charge, or watch
מִשְׁמֶרֶת
A “keeping” can be an assigned watch, reinforcing the sense that the missing is not overlooked.
חַטָּאתִי
chattati
GROWS FROM
חטא
to miss; missing the mark
“sin” in this verse is chattati. The word names the speaker’s missing, not an abstraction detached from his actions. Paired with the count of his steps, it places the missing inside the same close account.
ALSO GROWS
chet: missing, sin
חֵטְא
This noun keeps the sense of missing within the word translated “sin.”
chatta’t: sin; an offering for the missing
חַטָּאת
The same word can name both the missing and an offering associated with it, keeping the root’s concrete sense in view.
THE PATTERN
A life before God is fully visible: steps, paths, and hidden things remain within the divine gaze.
Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps?Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.THE THREAD
Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?The Hebrew root ספר (s-f-r), to count or record, appears in both verses: Job’s steps are counted, and the psalmist’s wanderings are counted. The psalm also places tears in a bottle and a book, making the keeping of an account feel intimate even as Job’s line leaves its pressure on the missing.
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