Job 14:2-12

2 Who cometh forth like a flower, and is destroyed, and fleeth as a shadow, and never continueth in the same state.

3 And dost thou think it meet to open thy eyes upon such an one, and to bring him into judgment with thee?

4 Who can make him clean that is conceived of unclean seed? is it not thou who only art?

5 The days of man are short, and the number of his months is with thee: thou hast appointed his bounds which cannot be passed.

6 Depart a little from him, that he may rest until his wished for day come, as that of the hireling.

7 A tree hath hope: if it be cut, it growth green again, and the boughs thereof sprout.

8 If its roots be old in the earth, and its stock be dead in the dust:

9 At the scent of water, it shall spring, and bring forth leaves, as when it was first planted.

10 But man when he shall be dead, and stripped and consumed, I pray you where is he?

11 As if the waters should depart out of the sea, and an emptied river should be dried up;

12 So man when he is fallen asleep shall not rise again; till the heavens be broken, he shall not awake, nor rise up 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.