The Meaning of Job 13:15 Explained

Job 13:15

KJV: Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.

YLT: Lo, He doth slay me -- I wait not! Only, my ways unto His face I argue.

Darby: Behold, if he slay me, yet would I trust in him; but I will defend mine own ways before him.

ASV: Behold, he will slay me; I have no hope: Nevertheless I will maintain my ways before him.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Though  he slay  me, yet will I trust  in him: but I will maintain  mine own ways  before  him. 

What does Job 13:15 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 13:15 mean?

Though He slay me - Him yet will I trust Even so my own ways to the face of Him I will defend
הֵ֣ן יִ֭קְטְלֵנִי [לא] (ל֣וֹ) אֲיַחֵ֑ל אַךְ־ דְּ֝רָכַ֗י אֶל־ פָּנָ֥יו אוֹכִֽיחַ

הֵ֣ן  Though 
Parse: Interjection
Root: הֵן  
Sense: behold, lo, though hypothetical part.
יִ֭קְטְלֵנִי  He  slay  me 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine singular, first person common singular
Root: קָטַל  
Sense: (Qal) to slay, kill.
[לא]  - 
Parse: Adverb, Negative particle
אֲיַחֵ֑ל  yet  will  I  trust 
Parse: Verb, Piel, Imperfect, first person common singular
Root: יָחַל  
Sense: to wait, hope, expect.
אַךְ־  Even  so 
Parse: Adverb
Root: אַךְ  
Sense: indeed, surely (emphatic).
דְּ֝רָכַ֗י  my  own  ways 
Parse: Noun, common plural construct, first person common singular
Root: דֶּרֶךְ  
Sense: way, road, distance, journey, manner.
פָּנָ֥יו  the  face  of  Him 
Parse: Noun, common plural construct, third person masculine singular
Root: לִפְנֵי 
Sense: face.
אוֹכִֽיחַ  I  will  defend 
Parse: Verb, Hifil, Imperfect, first person common singular
Root: יָכַח  
Sense: to prove, decide, judge, rebuke, reprove, correct, be right.