Job 14:9-19

9 yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth branches like a young plant.
10 But man dies, and is laid low; man breathes his last, and where is he?
11 As waters fail from a lake, and a river wastes away and dries up,
12 so man lies down and rises not again; till the heavens are no more he will not awake, or be roused out of his sleep.
13 Oh that thou wouldest hide me in Sheol, that thou wouldest conceal me until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!
14 If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my service I would wait, till my release should come.
15 Thou wouldest call, and I would answer thee; thou wouldest long for the work of thy hands.
16 For then thou wouldest number my steps, thou wouldest not keep watch over my sin;
17 my transgression would be sealed up in a bag, and thou wouldest cover over my iniquity.
18 "But the mountain falls and crumbles away, and the rock is removed from its place;
19 the waters wear away the stones; the torrents wash away the soil of the earth; so thou destroyest the hope of man.

Job 14:9-19 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.

Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.