The Meaning of Job 13:28 Explained

Job 13:28

KJV: And he, as a rotten thing, consumeth, as a garment that is moth eaten.

YLT: And he, as a rotten thing, weareth away, As a garment hath a moth consumed him.

Darby: One who, as a rotten thing consumeth, as a garment that the moth eateth.

ASV: Though I am like a rotten thing that consumeth, Like a garment that is moth-eaten.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

And he, as a rotten thing,  consumeth,  as a garment  that is moth  eaten. 

What does Job 13:28 Mean?

Context Summary

Job 13:1-28 - "though He Slay Me"
The sufferer first rebukes his friends, Job 13:4-12. Then he makes an appeal to God, affirming that he was no hypocrite, and asking that his sins, for which he was suffering, might be set down, Job 13:23.
When Job said that he knew himself to be righteous, he was clearly speaking of known sin; he knew, so far as a man may know himself, that he had not committed the sins of which his friends charged him. He could bare his life to the inspection of men and angels, being sure that no accusation of which human law-courts would take cognizance could be established against him. But this is a very different matter with the divine tribunal. When a fuller light had shone upon him from the face of God, when the patriarch had seen Him instead of merely hearing of Him by the ear, then he would "abhor himself and repent in dust and ashes," Job 42:5-6.
Job 13:15 is almost the greatest sentence ever uttered by mortal lips! Let us ask for grace to affirm it. [source]

Chapter Summary: Job 13

1  Job reproves his friends for partiality
14  He professes his confidence in God;
19  and entreats to know his own sins, and God's purpose in afflicting him

What do the individual words in Job 13:28 mean?

And He [is] like a rotten thing decays Like a garment eaten by a moth
וְ֭הוּא כְּרָקָ֣ב יִבְלֶ֑ה כְּ֝בֶ֗גֶד אֲכָ֣לוֹ עָֽשׁ

וְ֭הוּא  And  He  [is] 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Pronoun, third person masculine singular
Root: הוּא 
Sense: he, she, it.
כְּרָקָ֣ב  like  a  rotten  thing 
Parse: Preposition-k, Noun, masculine singular
Root: רָקָב 
Sense: rottenness, decay (always fig).
יִבְלֶ֑ה  decays 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: בָּלָה  
Sense: to wear out, become old.
כְּ֝בֶ֗גֶד  Like  a  garment 
Parse: Preposition-k, Noun, masculine singular
Root: בֶּגֶד 
Sense: treachery, deceit.
אֲכָ֣לוֹ  eaten  by 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person masculine singular, third person masculine singular
Root: אָכַל  
Sense: to eat, devour, burn up, feed.
עָֽשׁ  a  moth 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: עָשׁ 
Sense: moth.