Job 14:11

11 As if waters go away from the sea, and as a river made void of waters wax dry, (Like when waters go away from the sea, or a river made void, or empty, of water groweth dry,)

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 it shall burgeon (again) at the odour of water, and it shall make hair, that is, leaves and branches/or take root, as when it was planted first (like when it was first planted).

10 But when a man is dead, and made naked, and wasted; I pray (thee), where is he?

11 As if waters go away from the sea, and as a river made void of waters wax dry, (Like when waters go away from the sea, or a river made void, or empty, of water groweth dry,)

12 so a man, when he hath slept, that is, died, he shall not rise again, till heaven be broken, or made new; he shall not wake, neither he shall rise altogether from his sleep. (so a man, when he hath slept, or died, shall not rise again, until the heavens be broken apart; he shall not awake, nor shall he ever rise again from his sleep.)

13 Who giveth this to me, that thou defend me in hell, and that thou hide me, till thy great vengeance pass; and that thou set to me a time, in which thou have mind on me? (I wish, that thou would hide me in Sheol, yea, that thou would hide me until thy great vengeance pass; and then that thou would set a time for me, in which thou would remember me!)