Job 14:11

11 As water evaporates from a lake and a river disappears in drought,

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 scent of water it will bud and sprout again like a new seedling.

10 “But when people die, their strength is gone. They breathe their last, and then where are they?

11 As water evaporates from a lake and a river disappears in drought,

12 people are laid to rest and do not rise again. Until the heavens are no more, they will not wake up nor be roused from their sleep.

13 “I wish you would hide me in the grave and forget me there until your anger has passed. But mark your calendar to think of me again!