Job 14:11

11 The waters recede from the lake, and the river wasteth and drieth up:

Job 14:11 Meaning and Commentary

Job 14:11

[As] the waters fail from the sea
the words may be rendered either without the as, and denote dissimilitude, and the sense be, that the waters go from the sea and return again, as with the tide:

and the flood decays and dries up;
and yet is supplied again with water: "but man lieth down, and riseth not again", ( Job 14:12 ) ; or else with the as, and express likeness; as the waters when they fail from the sea, or get out of lakes, and into another channel, never return more; and as a flood, occasioned by the waters of a river overflowing its banks, never return into it more; so man, when he dies, never returns to this world any more. The Targum restrains this to the Red sea, and the parting of that and the river Jordan, and the drying up of that before the ark of the Lord, and the return of both to their places again.

Job 14:11 In-Context

9 Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and put forth boughs like a young plant.

10 But a man dieth, and is prostrate; yea, man expireth, and where is he?

11 The waters recede from the lake, and the river wasteth and drieth up:

12 So man lieth down, and riseth not again; till the heavens be no more, they do not awake, nor are raised out of their sleep.

13 Oh that thou wouldest hide me in Sheol, that thou wouldest keep me secret until thine anger be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me, --