The Meaning of Job 19:4 Explained

Job 19:4

KJV: And be it indeed that I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself.

YLT: And also -- truly, I have erred, With me doth my error remain.

Darby: And be it that I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself.

ASV: And be it indeed that I have erred, Mine error remaineth with myself.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

And be it indeed  [that] I have erred,  mine error  remaineth  with myself. 

What does Job 19:4 Mean?

Context Summary

Job 19:1-29 - "i Know That My Redeemer Liveth"
In Job's melancholy condition his friends seemed only to add vexation and trial. The hirelings who sojourned in his household looked on him with disdain; his kith and kin were alienated; it seemed as if the Almighty had an antipathy against him. So great was his physical suffering that the only sound part of his body seemed to be the skin of his gums and his teeth, Job 19:20 (that is, all he could do was to speak). Then he suddenly breaks into the majestic utterance of Job 19:25-26.
Among the Bedouins the institution of the goel-or kinsman representative-still exists for the avenging of wrong done to a kinsman: and Job believed that his divine Goel would one day stand on the earth for his vindication. Yes, and more, he felt that somehow he, too, would arise from the very grave to hear that vindication spoken by those just and true lips. Above all, he would see God Himself standing with him-whom I"¦ shall see, on my side, Job 19:27, r.v. [source]

Chapter Summary: Job 19

1  Job, complaining of his friends' cruelty,
6  shows there is misery enough in him to feed their cruelty
21  He craves pity
23  He believes the resurrection

What do the individual words in Job 19:4 mean?

And if indeed I have erred with me remains My error
וְאַף־ אָמְנָ֥ם שָׁגִ֑יתִי אִ֝תִּ֗י תָּלִ֥ין מְשׁוּגָתִֽי

וְאַף־  And  if 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Conjunction
Root: אַף  
Sense: also, yea, though, so much the more adv.
אָמְנָ֥ם  indeed 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: אָמְנָם  
Sense: verily, truly, surely.
שָׁגִ֑יתִי  I  have  erred 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, first person common singular
Root: שָׁגָה  
Sense: to go astray, stray, err.
אִ֝תִּ֗י  with  me 
Parse: Preposition, first person common singular
Root: אֵת 
Sense: with, near, together with.
תָּלִ֥ין  remains 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person feminine singular
Root: לוּן 
Sense: to lodge, stop over, pass the night, abide.
מְשׁוּגָתִֽי  My  error 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular construct, first person common singular
Root: מְשׁוּגָה  
Sense: error.