Job 14:5

5 You decide how long anyone will live. You have established the number of his months. You have set a limit to the number of his days.

Job 14:5 Meaning and Commentary

Job 14:5

Seeing his days [are] determined
Or "cut out" F9, exactly and precisely, how many he shall live, and what shall befall him every day of his life; whose life, because of the shortness of it, is rather measured by days than vents:

the number of his months [are] with thee;
before him, in his sight, in his account, and fixed and settled by him:

thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;
the boundaries of his life the period of his days, beyond which he cannot go; the term of man's life is so peremptorily fixed by God, that he cannot die sooner, nor live longer, than he has determined he should; as the time of a man's birth, so the time of his death is according to the purpose of God; and all intervening moments and articles of time, and all things that befall a man throughout the whole course of his life, all fall under the appointment of God, and are according to his determinate will; and when God requires of man his soul, no one has power over his spirit to retain it one moment; yet this hinders not the use of means for the preservation and comfort of life, since these are settled as well as the end, and are under the divine direction: the word for bounds signifies sometimes "statutes" F11: though not to be understood of laws appointed by God, either of a moral or ceremonial nature; but here it signifies set, stated, appointed times F12 Seneca F13 says the same thing;

``there is a boundary fixed for every man, which always remains where it is set, nor can any move it forward by any means whatsoever.''


FOOTNOTES:

F9 (Myuwrx) "exacte praefiniti sunt", Tigurine version.
F11 (wqx) "statuta ejus", V. L. Mercerus, Schmidt.
F12 "Stata tempora", Beza.
F13 Consolat. ad Marciam, c. 20.

Job 14:5 In-Context

3 "God, why do you keep looking at someone like me? Are you planning to take me to court?
4 Who can bring what is pure from something that isn't pure? No one!
5 You decide how long anyone will live. You have established the number of his months. You have set a limit to the number of his days.
6 So look away from him. Leave him alone. Let him put in his time like a hired worker.
7 "At least there is hope for a tree. If it's cut down, it will begin to grow again. New branches will appear on it.
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