Job 14:7

Trees versus humans

7 Indeed there is hope for a tree. If it's cut down and still sprouting and its shoots don't fail,

Job 14:7 Meaning and Commentary

Job 14:7

For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will
sprout again
That is, if it be cut down to the root, and only the stump of the root is left in the ground, as the tree in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, ( Daniel 4:15 ) , yet the owner of it may entertain a hope that it is not utterly destroyed, but will bud out again; or "change" ^F19 its state and condition, and become flourishing again: or "renew" ^F20 itself; and its strength, and put out new shoots and branches; either it will rise up into a new body, as the laurel, as Pliny ^F21 relates, or produce new sprouts as the willow, alder tree, and others; for this is not true of every tree, though it may be of many; for it is ^F23 reported of the cypress tree, when cut down, it never sprouts out any more, unless in one place, in Aenaria; but since this is the case of some, it is sufficient to Job's purpose:

and that the tender branch thereof will not cease;
from shooting out; or "its suckers will not cease" ^F24; which may be observed frequently to grow out of the roots of trees, even of those that are cut down, such as above mentioned.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F19 (Pylxy) "mutabit se", Drusius; "conditionem suam", Piscator.
F20 "Renovat se", Schmidt.
F21 Nat. Hist. apud Pinedam in loc.
F23 Servius in Virgil. Aeneid. l. 3. p. 681. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 16. c. 33.
F24 (wtqnwy) "sugensque ejus surculus", Schultens.

Job 14:7 In-Context

5 If our days are fixed, the number of our months with you, you set a statute and we can't exceed it.

6 Look away from us that we may rest, until we are satisfied like a worker at day's end.

7 Indeed there is hope for a tree. If it's cut down and still sprouting and its shoots don't fail,

8 if its roots age in the ground and its stump dies in the dust,

9 at the scent of water, it will bud and produce sprouts like a plant.