What Does Job 16:18 Mean in the King James?

O earth, cover not thou my blood, and let my cry have no place.

Job 16:18 · KJV

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

In this verse, burial is not closure: blood remains evidence, and the cry still seeks a hearing.

THE MEANING

The verse speaks from the fear that suffering will be buried and its cry left without a place. The blood remains a witness, and concealment does not make the cry unreal.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that burying evidence makes violence disappear; the blood and the cry remain witnesses even when the voice is denied a place.

THE ROOT

זַעֲקָתִי

za'aqati

GROWS FROM

זעק

⁨זעק⁩ (za’aq): cry out, call aloud.

This is not a passing sound: the root carries the force of a call raised into the open. Beside blood the earth must not cover, the cry becomes testimony that must not be buried.

ALSO GROWS

za'aq: to cry out

זָעַק

The verb makes clear that the cry is an act of calling aloud, not merely a sound.

ze'aqah: a cry, an outcry

זְעָקָה

This noun shares the root and gives the verse’s personal cry the weight of a public outcry.

תְּכַסִּי

tekhassi

GROWS FROM

כסה

⁨כסה⁩ (kasah): cover, conceal.

“cover” in this verse is tekhassi. The Hebrew verb can mean both physical covering and concealment. The plea asks the earth not to turn spilled blood into something hidden from view.

ALSO GROWS

kasah: to cover, conceal

כָּסָה

The same verb holds together the physical act of covering and the hiding of what lies beneath.

mikhseh: a covering

מִכְסֶה

This noun shares the root ⁨כסה⁩ and shows the covering as a thing that can hide what is underneath.

מָקוֹם

maqom

GROWS FROM

קום

⁨קום⁩ (qum): rise, stand, be established.

The noun for “place” is formed from the root associated with standing or rising. The cry is not merely sound: it seeks ground on which it can stand and be heard.

ALSO GROWS

qum: to rise, stand

קוּם

The verb shares the root consonants and gives “place” an echo of standing ground.

meqomo: his place, his position

מְקוֹמוֹ

This form keeps the same root consonants in a word for the place where someone stands or is situated.

THE PATTERN

Violence buried in the earth remains a witness whose cry cannot be silenced by concealment.

And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.

Genesis 4:10 · KJVBlood speaks from the ground, making the earth a witness rather than a place where violence disappears.

For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.

Isaiah 26:21 · KJVThe earth that might hide blood instead discloses it, echoing Job’s plea for the blood not to be covered.

And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

Revelation 6:10 · KJVThe slain continue to cry for their blood to be answered, showing that burial does not erase the demand for witness.

THE THREAD

For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.

Isaiah 26:21 · KJV

The same Hebrew root ⁨כסה⁩ (kasah, “cover”) appears in both verses: Job’s plea asks the earth not to conceal blood, while Isaiah says the earth will no longer cover its slain. Isaiah opens Job’s cry toward disclosure, where what was hidden comes into view.

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