I am using Linux Mint Cinnamon 14. I have set the $JAVA_HOME and $PATH environment variables in ~/.profile as follows:
$JAVA_HOME/bin/java -version says 'Permission Denied'
If you cannot access or run code, it which be ignored if added to your path. You need to make it accessible and runnable or get a copy of your own.
Do an
ls -ld $JAVA_HOME $JAVA_HOME/bin $JAVA_HOME/bin/java
to see why you cannot access or run this program,.