Job 15:14 (KJV)

What does Job 15:14 mean?

Job 15:14 presents a challenge to the idea that a human being can be clean and righteous before God. The speaker treats human frailty as a reason to question whether anyone can claim to be free from fault in God’s sight.

Eliphaz, one of Job’s friends, says these words to Job during a sharp dispute. His phrase “born of a woman” points to ordinary human birth: Job shares the same human condition as everyone else. Eliphaz uses two questions to press his claim rather than to ask Job for information.

The Hebrew behind Job 15:14

• “man” — אֱנוֹשׁ (enosh): This word means a human being and can carry a sense of human weakness. Eliphaz’s question concerns people in general, not only Job.
• “clean” — זָכָה (zakhah): This word can mean to be pure or free from guilt. Here, “clean” describes a person’s standing in relation to God, not physical cleanliness.
• “righteous” — צָדַק (tsadaq): This word carries the sense of being just or in the right. In the dispute, Eliphaz’s question challenges a person’s claim to be right before God.

Why Job 15:14 matters

• The speaker’s identity matters. These are Eliphaz’s words in an argument with Job; later, God says that Eliphaz and his two friends have not spoken rightly about him (Job 42:7).
• The comparison in the surrounding passage sharpens Eliphaz’s claim. In verse 15, he speaks of God finding fault even among heavenly beings, making his question about humans part of a larger contrast between God and his creatures.