Job 14:12-22

12 So man lies down and does not rise. Till the heavens are no more, They will not awake Nor be roused from their sleep.
13 "Oh, that You would hide me in the grave, That You would conceal me until Your wrath is past, That You would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
14 If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait, Till my change comes.
15 You shall call, and I will answer You; You shall desire the work of Your hands.
16 For now You number my steps, But do not watch over my sin.
17 My transgression is sealed up in a bag, And You cover my iniquity.
18 "But as a mountain falls and crumbles away, And as a rock is moved from its place;
19 As water wears away stones, And as torrents wash away the soil of the earth; So You destroy the hope of man.
20 You prevail forever against him, and he passes on; You change his countenance and send him away.
21 His sons come to honor, and he does not know it; They are brought low, and he does not perceive it.
22 But his flesh will be in pain over it, And his soul will mourn over it."

Job 14:12-22 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.

Footnotes 1

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.