Job 14:11

11 Like lakes and rivers that have dried up, parched reminders of what once was,

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 At the first whiff of water it comes to life, buds and grows like a sapling.

10 But men and women? They die and stay dead. They breathe their last, and that's it.

11 Like lakes and rivers that have dried up, parched reminders of what once was,

12 So mortals lie down and never get up, never wake up again - never.

13 Why don't you just bury me alive, get me out of the way until your anger cools? But don't leave me there! Set a date when you'll see me again.