Job 14
1 Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.
2 He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
3 And do you open your eyes upon him, and bring me into judgment with you?
4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.
5 Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with you, you have appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;
6 Look away from him, that he may rest, till he shall accomplish, as an hireling, his day.
7 For 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.
8 Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground,
9 Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant.
10 But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?
11 As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up:
12 So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.
13 O that you would hide me in the grave, that you would keep me secret, until your wrath be past, that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
14 If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.
15 You shall call, and I will answer you: you shall have a desire to the work of your hands.
16 For now you number my steps: do you not watch over my sin?
17 My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and you cover over my iniquity.
18 But as a mountain falleth, and is removed, and as a rock is moved out of its place,
19 So you destroy the hope of man.
20 You prevail forever against him, and he passeth: you change his countenance, and send him away.
21 His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; they are brought low, and he perceiveth it not of them.
22 But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn.
Job 14 Commentary
Chapter Overview
Job 14 continues the prayer begun in Job 13. After asking God to name his sins and stop treating him like an enemy, Job widens the discussion from his own suffering to the condition of every human being. Life is short, troubled, fragile, and bounded by death. Job wonders why God would subject such a weak creature to relentless judgment.
The chapter moves between despair and a remarkable flicker of hope. A cut tree may sprout again, while a dead person appears to vanish beyond recovery. Yet Job imagines being hidden in the grave until divine anger passes, then called by God and restored because the Creator longs for the work of His hands. The hope is not steady or fully explained, but it shows that Job still believes his future finally depends on God’s remembrance.
Key Themes
“Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble” summarizes human mortality in deliberately universal language. Job is no longer describing only exceptional catastrophe. Even an ordinary life is brief and vulnerable. The statement resembles the concerns of Job 7, where human existence is compared to hard service and a passing breath.
The flower and shadow images emphasize both beauty and impermanence. A flower emerges vividly but is soon cut down; a shadow moves and disappears as the day changes. Job does not deny that life contains goodness. His grief is that every earthly good is exposed to time, decay, and loss.
Job asks why God opens His eyes upon such a creature and brings him into judgment. Earlier he felt watched at every moment. Here the question is sharpened: why examine fragile humanity as though it possessed the strength to endure unrelenting scrutiny? Job is not asking God to become indifferent to evil; he is pleading for mercy that takes human weakness seriously.
“Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one” recognizes that impurity belongs to the human condition, not merely to a few notorious sinners. Job does not claim moral perfection. His argument is that universal frailty cannot explain why he has received unusually severe suffering. A general truth about sin must not be turned into evidence for a specific accusation without proof.
Verse 5 presents God as sovereign over the length of human life. Our days and months are known, and boundaries exist that we cannot cross. Job uses that sovereignty as the basis of a plea: because life is already limited, let the laborer have some rest before the day is finished. The image does not portray laziness but a hired worker longing for evening after exhausting service.
The tree in verses 7–9 becomes the chapter’s central comparison. Even when cut down, an old root may respond to water and send out new branches. Nature can display renewal after apparent death. Job looks at that recovery and feels the painful contrast with human mortality.
When a person dies, Job asks, “where is he?” The question expresses the perspective of someone looking at death from within earthly experience. Bodies weaken, breath departs, and the person is no longer found among the living. The comparison to dried waters stresses disappearance rather than offering a systematic doctrine of the afterlife.
“Man lieth down, and riseth not” must be read within Job’s lament and within the chapter’s own tension. Job is describing the irreversibility of death by ordinary earthly means: unlike the tree, a person does not simply return to the same life when rain falls. Scripture’s fuller revelation of resurrection comes later, and Job himself will voice stronger hope in Job 19.
The phrase “till the heavens be no more” leaves the statement open beyond the present created order. Job does not explain what follows. His immediate point is that death places a person beyond normal human recovery for as long as the world continues in its familiar course.
Verse 13 changes the tone. Job wishes God would hide him in the grave, keep him safe until wrath passes, appoint a time, and remember him. The grave is imagined not only as an end but as a place of concealment from present suffering. Job longs for death, yet he also longs for death not to be the final word.
In Scripture, divine remembrance is more than mental recollection. When God remembers, He acts faithfully toward those who depend on Him. Job’s request therefore means: do not abandon me permanently; set a time when You will turn toward me again.
“If a man die, shall he live again?” is the chapter’s great question. Job does not answer it with settled confidence, but the following lines imagine a positive possibility. He would wait through his appointed service “till my change come.” The word suggests relief, renewal, or a change of condition. Hope enters as a possibility grounded entirely in God’s initiative.
“You shall call, and I will answer you” reverses Job’s present experience of silence. He imagines a future in which God summons him and he is able to respond. The relationship that now feels broken would be restored through divine calling.
God would “have a desire to the work of your hands.” Job remembers that he is not an accidental object but a creature personally fashioned by God, echoing Job 10. There he struggled with the thought that the God who formed him now seemed to destroy him. Here that same truth becomes the basis of hope: the Maker may yet desire and reclaim what He made.
Verses 16–17 return to the present. Job feels that God numbers his steps and watches his sin. His transgression is sealed in a bag, as though every failure were carefully preserved as legal evidence. “You cover over my iniquity” may picture the record being securely enclosed rather than graciously forgiven. Job experiences divine attention as surveillance, not care.
The mountain, rock, stones, and soil illustrate slow but irresistible destruction. Mountains fall, rocks move, water wears away stone, and floods wash away earth. If even the strongest parts of creation cannot resist erosion, human hope seems still more vulnerable before divine power.
Job says God prevails against a person, changes his countenance, and sends him away. Death alters the face and removes the person from familiar life. The language is severe because Job currently interprets mortality primarily as defeat rather than homecoming.
Verse 21 describes the dead as unaware of whether their children rise to honor or fall into hardship. Job may be grieving his own lost children as well as speaking generally. Death cuts a person off from participation in the changing fortunes of the household left behind.
The final verse focuses again on pain and mourning. Whether it describes the dying process or the sufferer’s present embodied anguish, Job ends where he began: human life is marked by physical pain and inward sorrow. The chapter offers no easy resolution, but its unanswered question prepares readers to keep seeking an answer beyond Job’s immediate horizon.
Important Verses and Questions
Does verse 4 teach that every person is sinful? It expresses the impossibility of producing moral purity from humanity’s impure condition. Job includes himself within universal weakness. He does not, however, concede the friends’ claim that a particular hidden crime caused his suffering.
Why does Job compare a person with a tree? A damaged tree can sprout again when water reaches its roots. Job envies that visible renewal because death appears to remove a person permanently from earthly life. The contrast makes his later hope of being remembered by God more striking.
Is Job denying resurrection in verse 12? He is describing death as irreversible within normal human experience, not presenting the Bible’s final teaching on resurrection. The chapter itself immediately asks whether the dead might live again and imagines God calling Job forth.
What does “till my change come” mean? Job hopes for a divinely appointed transition from his present state of suffering and death into renewed fellowship with God. The wording is not a complete explanation of resurrection, but it reaches toward restoration beyond the grave.
Why would God desire the work of His hands? Job appeals to the bond between Creator and creature. The God who carefully made him has reason not to discard him forever. Christian readers see the fullest confirmation of this hope in God’s promise to raise and renew His people, but Job speaks here in longing rather than full New Testament clarity.
Practical Applications
First, remember human frailty when correcting others. Truth should be applied with compassion toward people whose lives are already brief and burdened. Divine holiness never authorizes needless harshness.
Second, do not confuse universal sinfulness with proof of a particular accusation. Everyone needs grace, but that does not mean every illness, bereavement, or disaster identifies a secret offense. Specific charges require specific evidence.
Third, honest faith may ask questions that revelation has not yet fully answered. Job’s hope rises and falls, yet he continues addressing God. Believers do not need to hide fear of death or uncertainty; they can bring both into prayer while holding to what God has made clear.
Finally, ground hope in the Creator’s commitment to His work. Job cannot rescue himself from death, but he can imagine God calling and remembering him. The chapter points away from human strength toward the God who alone can renew life, restore fellowship, and give permanence to creatures who otherwise pass like flowers and shadows.