Job 14:2-12

2 Like a flower he comes up, and he withers away; and he flees like a shadow, but he does not last.
3 Even on such a one you fix your eyes, and you bring me into judgment with you.
4 "Who can bring a clean [thing] from an unclean [thing]? No one!
5 If his days [are] determined, the number of his months [is] with you; you have appointed his boundaries, and he cannot cross [them].
6 Look away from him, and let him desist until he enjoys his days like a laborer.
7 "Indeed, there is hope for a tree: if it is cut down, then it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not cease;
8 though its root grows old in the earth, and its stump dies in the dust,
9 at the scent of water it will bud, and it will put forth branches like a young plant.
10 "But a man dies, and he dwindles away; thus a human being passes away, and where is he?
11 [As] water disappears from a lake, and a river withers away and dries up,
12 {so} a man lies down, and he does not arise. {Until the heavens are no more}, they will not awaken, and they will not be roused out of their 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.

Footnotes 11

Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.