What Does Job 16:15 Mean in the King James?
I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and defiled my horn in the dust.
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
Job’s horn, a sign of strength and a word-family tied to radiance, is brought down into the dust.
THE MEANING
The verse gives you a bodily picture of grief: sackcloth is sewn against the skin, and your horn, your force and standing, lies defiled in dust. Sorrow reaches what is visible and what gives a person strength, rather than staying only inward.
THE ROOT
קַרְנִי
qarnî
GROWS FROM
קרן
q-r-n
Horn; a projecting point or ray, and by extension a sign of strength.
The consonants behind “horn” also form a verb for shining or sending out rays. What can rise and radiate is laid in dust here, giving humiliation both a body and a visible loss of force.
ALSO GROWS
qeren: Horn; also a figurative sign of strength.
קֶרֶן
The horn gives the verse a visible image for force and standing brought low.
qāran: To shine or send out rays.
קָרַן
This verb is used of Moses’ face shining; its shared consonants place radiance beside the horn now lying in dust.
THE PATTERN
Scripture uses the horn as a sign of strength whose lowering and raising make a change in standing visible.
All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off; but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the LORD shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David;THE THREAD
All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off; but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.Psalm 75 uses the same Hebrew word, qeren, for the horns that are cut off or exalted. Beside Job’s horn in the dust, it reveals the image as a measure of strength and standing that can be brought low or lifted.
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