Job 14:11

11 Just as water in a lake disappears, as a river shrinks and dries up;

Job 14:11 Meaning and Commentary

Job 14:11

[As] the waters fail from the sea
the words may be rendered either without the as, and denote dissimilitude, and the sense be, that the waters go from the sea and return again, as with the tide:

and the flood decays and dries up;
and yet is supplied again with water: "but man lieth down, and riseth not again", ( Job 14:12 ) ; or else with the as, and express likeness; as the waters when they fail from the sea, or get out of lakes, and into another channel, never return more; and as a flood, occasioned by the waters of a river overflowing its banks, never return into it more; so man, when he dies, never returns to this world any more. The Targum restrains this to the Red sea, and the parting of that and the river Jordan, and the drying up of that before the ark of the Lord, and the return of both to their places again.

Job 14:11 In-Context

9 yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth branches like a young plant.

10 But when a human being grows weak and dies, he expires; and then where is he?

11 Just as water in a lake disappears, as a river shrinks and dries up;

12 so a person lies down and doesn't arise until the sky no longer exists; it will not awaken, it won't be roused from its sleep.

13 "I wish you would hide me in Sh'ol, conceal me until your anger has passed, then fix a time and remember me!