The Meaning of Job 4:15 Explained

Job 4:15

KJV: Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up:

YLT: And a spirit before my face doth pass, Stand up doth the hair of my flesh;

Darby: And a spirit passed before my face the hair of my flesh stood up --

ASV: Then a spirit passed before my face; The hair of my flesh stood up.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Then a spirit  passed  before my face;  the hair  of my flesh  stood up: 

What does Job 4:15 Mean?

Context Summary

Job 4:1-21 - "shall Mortal Man Be More Just Than God?"
The first cycle of speeches is opened by Eliphaz. It must be remembered that he and the two others believed that special suffering resulted from and was the sign of special sin. Job's calamities, in the light of that thought, seemed to prove that he who had been considered a paragon of perfection was not what they had supposed. According to their philosophy, if only he would confess his sin, all would be well and the sun would shine again upon his path.
Eliphaz recounts a visitation, in a night vision, from the unseen world, which is described with marvelous power. Emphasis is laid on the infinite distance between God and man, and on the impossibility of a mortal being accounted just in the presence of divine purity. Of course the suggestion is that Job was suffering the penalty of sin which, though it had eluded human eyes, was naked and open before God. An angel seems dark against God's pure light, and if an angel is deficient, how much more man! [source]

Chapter Summary: Job 4

1  Eliphaz reproves Job that the innocent do not suffer
7  He teaches God's judgments to be not for the righteous, but for the wicked
12  His fearful vision to humble the excellency of creatures before God

What do the individual words in Job 4:15 mean?

And a spirit before my face passed stood up the hair on my body
וְ֭רוּחַ עַל־ פָּנַ֣י יַחֲלֹ֑ף תְּ֝סַמֵּ֗ר שַֽׂעֲרַ֥ת בְּשָׂרִֽי

וְ֭רוּחַ  And  a  spirit 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Noun, common singular
Root: רוּחַ  
Sense: wind, breath, mind, spirit.
עַל־  before 
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.
פָּנַ֣י  my  face 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural construct, first person common singular
Root: לִפְנֵי 
Sense: face.
יַחֲלֹ֑ף  passed 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: חָלַף 
Sense: to pass on or away, pass through, pass by, go through, grow up, change, to go on from.
תְּ֝סַמֵּ֗ר  stood  up 
Parse: Verb, Piel, Imperfect, third person feminine singular
Root: סָמַר  
Sense: to bristle up, shiver, stand up.
שַֽׂעֲרַ֥ת  the  hair  on 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular construct
Root: שַׂעֲרָה  
Sense: a single hair.
בְּשָׂרִֽי  my  body 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct, first person common singular
Root: בָּשָׂר  
Sense: flesh.