Job 14:2-12

2 He comes out like 1a flower and 2withers; he flees like 3a shadow and continues not.
3 And do you 4open your eyes on such a one and 5bring me into judgment with you?
4 Who can bring 6a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one.
5 Since his 7days are determined, and 8the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass,
6 9look away from him and leave him alone,[a] that he may enjoy, like 10a hired hand, his day.
7 "For there is hope for a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease.
8 Though its root grow old in the earth, and 11its stump die in the soil,
9 yet at the scent of water it will bud and put out 12branches like a young plant.
10 But a man dies and is laid low; man breathes his last, and 13where is he?
11 14As waters fail from a lake and a river wastes away and dries up,
12 so a man lies down and rises not again; till 15the heavens are no more he will not awake or be 16roused out of his sleep.

Job 14:2-12 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 14

Job, having turned himself from his friends to God, continues his address to him in this chapter; wherein he discourses of the frailty of man, the shortness of his life, the troubles that are in it, the sinfulness of it, and its limited duration, beyond which it cannot continue; all which he makes use of with God, that he would not therefore deal rigorously with him, but have pity on him, and cease from severely afflicting him, till he came to the end of his days, which could not be long, Job 14:1-6; he observes of a tree, when it is cut down to the root, yea, when the root is become old, and the stock dies, it will, by means of being watered, bud and sprout again, and produce boughs and branches; but man, like the failing waters of the sea, and the decayed and dried up flood, when he dies, rises not, till the heavens be no more, Job 14:7-12; and then he wishes to be hid in the grave till that time, and expresses hope and belief of the resurrection of the dead, Job 14:13-15; and goes on to complain of the strict notice God took of his sins, of his severe dealings with men, destroying their hope in life, and removing them by death; so that they see and know not the case and circumstances of their children they leave behind, and while they live have continual pain and sorrow, Job 14:16-22.

Cross References 16

  • 1. Psalms 103:15; Isaiah 40:6, 7; James 1:10; 1 Peter 1:24
  • 2. Psalms 37:2; Psalms 90:6
  • 3. See Job 8:9; Job 17:7; Psalms 109:23
  • 4. [Psalms 8:4; Psalms 144:3]
  • 5. Job 22:4; Psalms 143:2
  • 6. Job 15:14; [Psalms 51:5; John 3:6]
  • 7. [Job 7:1; Psalms 39:4]
  • 8. Job 21:21
  • 9. Job 7:19
  • 10. Job 7:1
  • 11. Isaiah 11:1
  • 12. [Job 29:19]
  • 13. Job 29:7
  • 14. Isaiah 19:5
  • 15. Deuteronomy 11:21; Psalms 89:29; [Psalms 72:5; Matthew 5:18]
  • 16. [John 11:11]

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Probable reading; Hebrew look away from him, that he may cease
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.