What Does Job 31:33 Mean in the King James?
If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom:
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 verse reveals that concealment is not erasure: what is covered outside remains a rebellion carried close inside.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks to the moment when something is hidden from view yet still carried within. Concealment does not make the breach disappear; it remains close to the self that covers it. Job’s claim places the reader beside the Adam-pattern of hiding while naming what concealment tries to keep unseen.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
If wrongdoing stays unseen, it stops mattering or ceases to exist.
THE ROOT
פְּשָׁעַי
peshāʿay
GROWS FROM
פשע
pāshaʿ
To break away; to rebel.
The possessive form keeps the breach attached to its carrier: these are acts of breaking away that remain ‘mine.’ English ‘transgressions’ can sound like isolated violations, while פשע (pāshaʿ, rebellion or breaking away) names rupture; covering and hiding leave that rupture present even when unseen.
ALSO GROWS
peshaʿ: Rebellion; a breach.
פֶּשַׁע
The singular form names the rupture Job says he did not conceal.
pāshaʿ: To rebel; to break away.
פָּשַׁע
The verb makes the transgression an act of separation, not merely a mistake.
posheʿim: Rebels; those who break away.
פֹּשְׁעִים
The plural form shows the same root describing people marked by this breaking away.
THE PATTERN
What is hidden stays carried inward, while what is brought into the open can be released and cleansed.
I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.THE THREAD
And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.The phrase ‘as Adam’ opens onto the hiding scene: אָדָם (ʾadam, the ground-being) hears the LORD and hides among the trees, with the name echoing אֲדָמָה (ʾadamah, ground or soil). The same reflex remains recognizable now: concealment draws inward after a rupture, while naming what is hidden refuses to let cover stand in for disappearance.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us