The big picture
Speaking still to God, Job considers how short and troubled human life is. He is the man whose losses and illness have drawn accusations from his friends. A cut tree can grow again. Human death seems to offer no such visible return. For a moment he imagines God remembering and calling him after hiding him in the grave. The hope remains a question within a speech that returns to grief and fading strength.
In this chapter
- A Brief Life Seems Too Frail for Scrutiny Job 14:1-6
Job describes human life as short and full of trouble.
- A Tree Can Return but People Die Job 14:7-12
A felled tree can sprout again.
- Job Imagines Being Remembered After Death Job 14:13-17
Job wishes God would hide him in the grave until anger passes, then set a time to remember him.
- Eroding Stone Pictures Hope Worn Away Job 14:18-22
Job returns to images of loss.
Central truth
Job pictures life's brief limits and death's apparent finality, yet briefly imagines a future in which God remembers and calls him again.
Scripture beside the summary
Job · King James Version · 22Job 14:1-6
A Brief Life Seems Too Frail for Scrutiny
Job describes human life as short and full of trouble. It is like a flower cut down or a passing shadow. He asks why God watches such a frail being so closely and brings him into judgement. No human can produce perfect purity from an impure beginning. God has already set the number and limit of each person's days. Job asks him to turn aside long enough for some rest, like a hired worker finishing a day's labour. The plea grows from human limits: a life so brief already carries more than enough strain.
In everyday life
The seasonal fruit picker sits under a tree at the end of a long shift while the supervisor keeps asking for one more task. He points to the fading light and his shaking hands. There is a limit to what one day's strength can carry. Job asks for mercy within the God-appointed limits of an entire human life.
Notice
Job 14:6 The hired worker's day gives Job an image for a life with a fixed end. He asks for space to finish that limited time without relentless pressure.
Job 14:1-6
King James Version1Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.
2He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
3And dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and bringest me into judgment with thee?
4Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.
5Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;
6Turn from him, that he may rest, till he shall accomplish, as an hireling, his day.
Job 14:7-12
A Tree Can Return but People Die
A felled tree can sprout again. Even an old root or dead-looking stump can send out branches when water reaches it. Job contrasts that return with a person who dies and is gone. Water drains from a lake or river, and human life seems to vanish in the same way. The dead do not rise from sleep while the heavens remain. Job is describing the horizon visible from his suffering. The contrast makes his question about death concrete; it is not a complete account of every Christian belief about life beyond the grave.
In everyday life
The park gardener notices fresh shoots beside a bench dedicated to his late wife. The tree's return is welcome, yet it sharpens the difference between new growth and the person who will not sit there again. Nature's renewal does not remove his grief. Job uses that contrast to question what hope remains after human death.
Notice
Job 14:9 A little water can awaken growth from the old stump. That visible return makes Job's next question about a dead person's absence more painful rather than resolving it.
Job 14:7-12
King James Version7For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.
8Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground;
9Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant.
10But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?
11As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up:
12So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.
Job 14:13-17
Job Imagines Being Remembered After Death
Job wishes God would hide him in the grave until anger passes, then set a time to remember him. He asks whether a person can live after dying. He pictures waiting for change, then hearing God call and answering. His maker would long again for the work of his hands. Job also speaks of counted steps and sin shut away like something sealed in a bag. The speech reaches toward restored contact without turning the question into a settled answer. For a moment, being hidden need not mean being forgotten for ever.
In everyday life
The displaced grandmother keeps her old house key in a cloth pouch while staying far from home. She imagines a future call telling her that return is possible. The key does not prove that day will come, but it holds the wish to be remembered. Job imagines God calling him after the grave, not return from temporary displacement.
Notice
Job 14:15 The imagined call includes God's desire for the person he made. Job's hope is not only renewed breath but restored regard from the maker who now seems distant.
Job 14:13-17
King James Version13O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!
14If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.
15Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands.
16For now thou numberest my steps: dost thou not watch over my sin?
17My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and thou sewest up mine iniquity.
Job 14:18-22
Eroding Stone Pictures Hope Worn Away
Job returns to images of loss. Mountains fall, rocks shift, water wears stone and floods wash soil away. In the same way, he says, God destroys human hope. A person's face changes, and God sends him away in death. Children may gain honour or suffer disgrace, but the dead parent no longer knows their lives. Job ends with pain in the body and mourning within. The brief hope of being called does not erase the grief that follows it. The speech records a sufferer's movement between longing and a bleak sense of final loss.
In everyday life
The bereaved stonemason runs his thumb over weathered letters on a family grave. Rain has slowly worn the name, and he thinks about events the buried parent never lived to see. The ordinary work of erosion carries a deeper sorrow for him. Job attributes the wearing away of hope to God's power over human life.
Notice
Job 14:19 Water wearing stone makes destruction gradual as well as sudden. Job sees hope being worn down over time, not only shattered by one dramatic event.
Job 14:18-22
King James Version18And surely the mountain falling cometh to nought, and the rock is removed out of his place.
19The waters wear the stones: thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth; and thou destroyest the hope of man.
20Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passeth: thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away.
21His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them.
22But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn.
Details worth noticing
The opening image
Job 14:1 begins with “Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.”
Where the chapter turns
Job 14:10 forms a natural hinge: “But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?”
The final note
Job 14:22 leaves the reader with “But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn.”
A word trail through the chapter
The words days, till, wouldest, appointed, cometh, dost help reveal the chapter’s repeated concerns.
KJV words made clear
- thee
- you
- thou
- you
- thy
- your
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
