Job 14:9-19

9 yet at the scent of water it will bud and put out 1branches like a young plant.
10 But a man dies and is laid low; man breathes his last, and 2where is he?
11 3As waters fail from a lake and a river wastes away and dries up,
12 so a man lies down and rises not again; till 4the heavens are no more he will not awake or be 5roused out of his sleep.
13 Oh that you would 6hide me in 7Sheol, that you would 8conceal me 9until your wrath be past, that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
14 If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my 10service I would 11wait, till my renewal[a] should come.
15 You would 12call, and I would answer you; you would long for the 13work of your hands.
16 For then you would 14number my steps; you would not keep 15watch over my sin;
17 my transgression would be 16sealed up in a bag, and you would cover over my iniquity.
18 "But the mountain falls and 17crumbles away, and 18the rock is removed from its place;
19 the waters wear away the stones; the torrents wash away the soil of the earth; so you destroy the hope of man.

Job 14:9-19 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 18

Footnotes 1

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.