I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and defiled my horn in the dust.
Job 16:15 belongs to Job's reply in which he protests his innocence and longs for death. His suffering occurs under God's overruling providence and is not proof of the sin his friends accuse him of. The verse is part of his account of severe suffering and grief, one of the book's poetic expressions of his trial and patience.
Sewing sackcloth upon his skin expresses the depth of his grief and humiliation, with sackcloth set close against his skin. The horn is a figure of strength and dignity, and of glory and honor. Defiling the horn in the dust means bringing that strength and glory low, losing and humiliating it.
Job 16:15 belongs to Job's reply in which he protests his innocence and longs for death. His suffering occurs under God's overruling providence and is not proof of the sin his friends accuse him of. The verse is part of his account of severe suffering and grief, one of the book's poetic expressions of his trial and patience.
Sewing sackcloth upon his skin expresses the depth of his grief and humiliation, with sackcloth set close against his skin. The horn is a figure of strength and dignity, and of glory and honor. Defiling the horn in the dust means bringing that strength and glory low, losing and humiliating it.