Job 14
New American Standard Bible 2020
Chapter overview
Job contrasts a felled tree, which can sprout again at the scent of water, with a human being, who lies down and does not rise. He asks whether the dead can live again and imagines waiting out an appointed time until God would call and he would answer, before returning to the erosion that wears hope away.
MortalityHopeRenewalHuman frailty
1“Man, who is born of woman, Is short-lived and full of turmoil.
2“Like a flower he comes out and withers. He also flees like a shadow and does not remain.
3“You also open Your eyes on him And bring him into judgment with Yourself.
4“Who can make the clean out of the unclean? No one!
5“Since his days are determined, The number of his months is with You; And You have set his limits so that he cannot pass.
6“Look away from him so that he may rest, Until he fulfills his day like a hired worker.
7¶“For there is hope for a tree, When it is cut down, that it will sprout again, And its shoots will not fail.
8“Though its roots grow old in the ground, And its stump dies in the dry soil,
9At the scent of water it will flourish And produce sprigs like a plant.
10“But a man dies and lies prostrate. A person passes away, and where is he?
11“As water evaporates from the sea, And a river becomes parched and dried up,
12So a man lies down and does not rise. Until the heavens no longer exist, He will not awake nor be woken from his sleep.
13¶“Oh that You would hide me in Sheol, That You would conceal me until Your wrath returns to You, That You would set a limit for me and remember me!
14“If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my struggle I will wait Until my relief comes.
15“You will call, and I will answer You; You will long for the work of Your hands.
16“For now You number my steps, You do not observe my sin.
17“My wrongdoing is sealed up in a bag, And You cover over my guilt.
18¶“But the falling mountain crumbles away, And the rock moves from its place;
19Water wears away stones, Its torrents wash away the dust of the earth; So You destroy a man’s hope.
20“You forever overpower him and he departs; You change his appearance and send him away.
21“His sons achieve honor, but he does not know it; Or they become insignificant, and he does not perceive it.
22“However, his body pains him, And his soul mourns for himself.”
New American Standard Bible 2020 — Licensed through API.Bible, non-commercial use only, no derivatives. Where these translations come from.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org Text unchanged, provided through API.Bible.