Job 14:7

7 A tree hath hope, if it is cut down; and again it waxeth green, and his branches spread forth. (A tree hath hope, that if it is cut down, it shall grow green again, and its branches shall spread forth.)

Job 14:7 Meaning and Commentary

Job 14:7

For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will
sprout again
That is, if it be cut down to the root, and only the stump of the root is left in the ground, as the tree in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, ( Daniel 4:15 ) , yet the owner of it may entertain a hope that it is not utterly destroyed, but will bud out again; or "change" ^F19 its state and condition, and become flourishing again: or "renew" ^F20 itself; and its strength, and put out new shoots and branches; either it will rise up into a new body, as the laurel, as Pliny ^F21 relates, or produce new sprouts as the willow, alder tree, and others; for this is not true of every tree, though it may be of many; for it is ^F23 reported of the cypress tree, when cut down, it never sprouts out any more, unless in one place, in Aenaria; but since this is the case of some, it is sufficient to Job's purpose:

and that the tender branch thereof will not cease;
from shooting out; or "its suckers will not cease" ^F24; which may be observed frequently to grow out of the roots of trees, even of those that are cut down, such as above mentioned.

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FOOTNOTES:

F19 (Pylxy) "mutabit se", Drusius; "conditionem suam", Piscator.
F20 "Renovat se", Schmidt.
F21 Nat. Hist. apud Pinedam in loc.
F23 Servius in Virgil. Aeneid. l. 3. p. 681. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 16. c. 33.
F24 (wtqnwy) "sugensque ejus surculus", Schultens.

Job 14:7 In-Context

5 The days of a man be short, and the number of his months be with thee; thou hast set, either ordained, his terms, which may not be (over)passed.

6 Therefore go thou away from him a little, that he have rest; till his meed coveted come, and his day is as the day of an hired man. (And so go thou away from him for a little while, so that he can have some rest; until his desired reward come, and his day is like the day of a hired man.)

7 A tree hath hope, if it is cut down; and again it waxeth green, and his branches spread forth. (A tree hath hope, that if it is cut down, it shall grow green again, and its branches shall spread forth.)

8 If the root thereof is eld in the earth, and the stock thereof is nigh dead in (the) dust; (Yea, though its roots be old in the earth, and its stump is all but dead in the ground;)

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).