Job 14:11-21

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!
14 If a man dies, will he live again? I will wait all the days of my life for my change to come.
15 You will call, and I will answer you; you will long to see what you made again.
16 Whereas now you count each step of mine, then you will not keep watch for my sin.
17 You will seal up my crime in a bag and cover over my iniquity.
18 "Just as a mountain erodes and falls away, its rock is removed from its place,
19 the water wears away its stones, and the floods wash away its soil, so you destroy a person's hope.
20 You overpower him, and he passes on; you change his appearance and send him away.
21 His children earn honor, but he doesn't know it; or they are brought low, but he doesn't notice.

Job 14:11-21 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.

Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.