The Meaning of Job 16:15 Explained

Job 16:15

KJV: I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and defiled my horn in the dust.

YLT: Sackcloth I have sewed on my skin, And have rolled in the dust my horn.

Darby: I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and rolled my horn in the dust.

ASV: I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, And have laid my horn in the dust.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

I have sewed  sackcloth  upon my skin,  and defiled  my horn  in the dust. 

What does Job 16:15 Mean?

Context Summary

Job 16:1-22 - Turning From "miserable Comforters" Unto God
With bitterness the sufferer turns from his comforters to God. As the r.v. makes clear, he says that if he were in their place and they in his, instead of joining words together and evincing the pride of the immaculate, he would set himself to speak strengthening words and to assuage their grief by tender sympathy.
He compares his pains to the attack of a wild beast, Job 16:7-14; and from this he proceeds to describe the anguish of his grief, Job 16:15-20. But toward the end of the chapter a new thought begins to shape itself; and from his lowest despair he catches sight of a Vindicator and a vindication that must someday be his. Job 16:21 should be read as in the r.v., margin. Job wanted a son of man to plead for him; and his prayer has been more than answered in the Son of man, who pleads for us "not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an indissoluble life," Hebrews 7:16. "O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul," Lamentations 3:58. [source]

Chapter Summary: Job 16

1  Job reproves his friends for unmercifulness
17  He maintains his innocence

What do the individual words in Job 16:15 mean?

Sackcloth I have sewn over my skin and laid in the dust my head
שַׂ֣ק תָּ֭פַרְתִּי עֲלֵ֣י גִלְדִּ֑י וְעֹלַ֖לְתִּי בֶעָפָ֣ר קַרְנִֽי

שַׂ֣ק  Sackcloth 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: שַׂק  
Sense: mesh, sackcloth, sack, sacking.
תָּ֭פַרְתִּי  I  have  sewn 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, first person common singular
Root: תָּפַר  
Sense: to sew together.
עֲלֵ֣י  over 
Parse: Preposition
Root: עַל 
Sense: upon, on the ground of, according to, on account of, on behalf of, concerning, beside, in addition to, together with, beyond, above, over, by, on to, towards, to, against.
גִלְדִּ֑י  my  skin 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct, first person common singular
Root: גֵּלֶד  
Sense: skin (human).
וְעֹלַ֖לְתִּי  and  laid 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Piel, Conjunctive perfect, first person common singular
Root: עָלַל 
Sense: to act severely, deal with severely, make a fool of someone.
בֶעָפָ֣ר  in  the  dust 
Parse: Preposition-b, Article, Noun, masculine singular
Root: עָפָר  
Sense: dry earth, dust, powder, ashes, earth, ground, mortar, rubbish.
קַרְנִֽי  my  head 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular construct, first person common singular
Root: קֶרֶן 
Sense: horn.