The Meaning of Job 13:9 Explained

Job 13:9

KJV: Is it good that he should search you out? or as one man mocketh another, do ye so mock him?

YLT: Is it good that He doth search you, If, as one mocketh at a man, ye mock at Him?

Darby: Will it be well if he should search you out? or as one mocketh at a man, will ye mock at him?

ASV: Is it good that he should search you out? Or as one deceiveth a man, will ye deceive him?

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Is it good  that he should search you out?  or as one man  mocketh  another, do ye [so] mock  him? 

What does Job 13:9 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 13:9 mean?

will it be well when He searches out you Or as one mocks a man can you mock Him
הֲ֭טוֹב כִּֽי־ יַחְקֹ֣ר אֶתְכֶ֑ם אִם־ כְּהָתֵ֥ל בֶּ֝אֱנ֗וֹשׁ תְּהָתֵ֥לּוּ בֽוֹ

הֲ֭טוֹב  will  it  be  well 
Parse: Article, Noun, masculine singular
Root: טָבַב 
Sense: good, pleasant, agreeable.
יַחְקֹ֣ר  He  searches  out 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: חָקַר  
Sense: to search, search for, search out, examine, investigate.
כְּהָתֵ֥ל  as  one  mocks 
Parse: Preposition-k, Verb, Hifil, Infinitive construct
Root: הָתַל 
Sense: (Piel) to mock, deceive.
בֶּ֝אֱנ֗וֹשׁ  a  man 
Parse: Preposition-b, Noun, masculine singular
Root: אִישׁ 
Sense: man.
תְּהָתֵ֥לּוּ  can  you  mock 
Parse: Verb, Hifil, Imperfect, second person masculine plural
Root: הָתַל 
Sense: (Piel) to mock, deceive.