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Job 14:1–22 — Job Laments the Finality of Death. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

“Man, who is born of woman, is short of days and full of trouble.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

’ā·ḏām yə·lūḏ ’iš·šāh qə·ṣar yā·mîm ū·śə·ḇa‘- rō·ḡez

Word by word7 · parsed

אָ֭דָם’ā·ḏāmManH120

√ ʼâdâm — ruddy iNounmasculine singular

’āḏām: man, humankind The same word names the first man (Gen 2:7; 5:1 to 2). Ellicott and Cambridge both observe that Job here widens his own case to the common lot of the race; the Adamic name quietly carries the shadow of Genesis 3 over the whole lament.

יְל֣וּדyə·lūḏwho is bornH3205

√ yâlad — to bear youngVerbQalQalPassParticiplemasculine singular construct

yālaḏ: to bear (Qal passive participle) “One born of woman.” K&D notes the LXX gennētos gynaikos, the very phrase of Matt 11:11. Eliphaz (15:14) and Bildad (25:4) will later take Job's own phrase and turn it against him as proof of impurity.

אִשָּׁ֑ה’iš·šāhof womanH802

√ ʼishshâh — a womanNounfeminine singular

קְצַ֥רqə·ṣaris shortH7116

√ qâtsêr — short (whether in size, number, life, strength or temper)Adjectivemasculine singular construct

qāṣēr: short Construct “short of days.” The opposite pairing, śᵉḇaʻ yāmîm “full of days,” is used of Abraham, Isaac, and finally Job himself (42:17): the book's ending answers this verse's complaint.

יָ֝מִ֗יםyā·mîmof daysH3117

√ yôwm — a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb)Nounmasculine plural

וּֽשְׂבַֽע־ū·śə·ḇa‘-and fullH7649

√ sâbêaʻ — satiated (in a pleasant or disagreeable sense)Conjunctive wawAdjectivemasculine singular construct

śāḇēaʻ: sated, satisfied A word of plenty used here of misery. K&D notes the same strong sense at 10:15 (“full of disgrace”).

רֹֽגֶז׃rō·ḡezof troubleH7267

√ rôgez — commotion, restlessness (of a horse), crash (of thunder), disquiet, angerNounmasculine singular

rōḡez: commotion, unrest The last word of Job's first speech (3:26, “trouble came”) returns here as the definition of human life. The root rāḡaz is used of trembling and quaking (Hab 3:16).

Literal — word-for-word from the original

“Adam, born-of a-woman, short of-days and-sated of-turmoil.”

Where the English smooths the original

קְצַ֥ר יָ֝מִ֗ים קְצַר יָמִים (qᵉṣar yāmîm): “short of days,” a construct adjective, not the softer “of few days.” JFB and Gill both note the literal “short of days.” The phrase is the exact inverse of the patriarchal formula “full of days,” which is how this very book will close over Job (42:17).
וּֽשְׂבַֽע־ רֹֽגֶז שְׂבַע רֹגֶז (śᵉḇaʻ rōḡez): “sated with turmoil.” Śāḇēaʻ is the word for being filled to satisfaction (of food, of years); rōḡez is commotion, agitation, quaking. English “full of trouble” loses the grim irony: man is glutted, but with unrest. Benson glosses it as disquietude and commotion of mind and body.
אָ֭דָם אָדָם (’āḏām): the generic name of the race and the name of the first man. BSB “Man” is correct, but the Hebrew lets every reader hear Adam: Job is now speaking of the whole woman-born line, not of himself alone (Ellicott, Cambridge).

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

Rather, and withereth , cf. similar figures Isaiah 40:6 seq .; Psalm 37:2 ; Psalm 90:6

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

For these reasons we also take ויּמּל here, not as fut. Kal from מלל, or, as Hahn, from נמל equals נבל, to wither, but as fut. Niph. from מלל, to cut down.

K&D and Cambridge disagree on the verb; this apparatus keeps both readings in view rather than resolving a contested lexical question.

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The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s

Eastern flowers do not often last much more than a day.

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John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

a shadow is an empty thing, without substance, dark and obscure, variable and uncertain, declining, fleeting, and passing away

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Like a flower, he comes forth, then withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

kə·ṣîṣ yā·ṣā way·yim·māl kaṣ·ṣêl way·yiḇ·raḥ wə·lō ya·‘ă·mō·wḏ

Word by word7 · parsed

כְּצִ֣יץkə·ṣîṣLike a flowerH6731

√ tsîyts — properly, glistening, iPreposition-kNounmasculine singular

ṣîṣ: blossom, flower The same word stands in Isa 40:6 to 7 (“the flower fades,” nāḇēl ṣîṣ), which K&D cites; v. 18 of this chapter uses that very verb nāḇēl of the crumbling mountain.

יָ֭צָאyā·ṣāhe comes forthH3318

√ yâtsâʼ — to go (causatively, bring) out, in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively, direct and proximVerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular

וַיִּמָּ֑לway·yim·mālthen withers awayH5243

√ nâmal — to become clipped or (specifically) circumcisedConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

nāmal: to be cut off, circumcised; wither Rare (Verifier: 4 verses: Job 14:2; 18:16; 24:24; Ps 37:2). K&D links the root to the technical term for circumcision and decides for “cut down”; Cambridge reads “withereth.” Both readings land on the same point: brevity by an outside stroke or by inner decay.

כַּ֝צֵּ֗לkaṣ·ṣêllike a fleeting shadowH6738

√ tsêl — shade, whether literal or figurativePreposition-k, ArticleNounmasculine singular

ṣēl: shadow A stock figure of transience (Job 8:9; 1 Chr 29:15; Ps 102:11; 144:4). Pulpit suggests the swift shadows of moving clouds; Gill the shadow of a bird in flight.

וַיִּבְרַ֥חway·yiḇ·raḥ. . .H1272

√ bârach — to bolt, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

bāraḥ: to bolt, flee The verb used of fugitives (Jacob, Moses, Jonah). The shadow is personified as running away.

וְלֹ֣אwə·lōhe does notH3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absConjunctive wawAdverbNegative particle

יַעֲמֽוֹד׃ya·‘ă·mō·wḏendureH5975

√ ʻâmad — to stand, in various relations (literal and figurative, intransitive and transitive)VerbQalImperfectthird person masculine singular

‘āmaḏ: to stand To stand is to remain; man has no standing ground.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

Like-a-blossom he-comes-forth and-is-cut-off; and-he-flees like-the-shadow, and-does-not stand.

Where the English smooths the original

וַיִּמָּ֑ל וַיִּמָּל (wayyimmāl, from nāmal/mālal): BSB “withers away”; KJV “is cut down.” The verb is genuinely contested: K&D argues at length for “cut off, mown down” (Niphal of mālal, Targum “he is mown down”), while Cambridge prefers “withereth.” The Verifier records nāmal in only 4 verses, so the sense rests on very few attestations.
וַיִּבְרַ֥ח וַיִּבְרַח (wayyiḇraḥ, bāraḥ): “and he flees, bolts.” BSB folds the verb into “fleeting shadow,” turning an action into an adjective. In Hebrew the man himself runs away like a shadow.
יַעֲמֽוֹד יַעֲמוֹד (ya‘ămōḏ, ‘āmaḏ): “he does not stand.” BSB “endure” is right in sense, but the image is of something that cannot hold its position, set against the rock and mountain that also fail to stand in vv. 18 to 19.

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Albert BarnesNotes on the Bible1834

In Zechariah 12:4 , the expression "to open the eyes" upon one, means to look angrily upon him. Here it means to observe or watch closely.

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

A question of astonishment at the severity of God’s dealing with a creature of such weakness as man. “To open the eyes” is to look narrowly to, to watch in order to punish.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

How can God pass so strict a judgment on man, whose life is so short and full of sorrow, and which cannot possibly be pure from sin?

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Geneva Study BibleMarginal Notes1599

His meaning is, that seeing that man is so frail a creature, God should not handle him so extremely, in which Job shows the wickedness of the flesh, when it is not subject to the Spirit.

The Geneva note both explains Job and gently rebukes him, a pastoral stance the Reformers held throughout the book.

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Do You open Your eyes to one like this? Will You bring him into judgment before You?

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

pā·qaḥ·tā ‘ê·ne·ḵā wə·’ō·ṯî zeh ṯā·ḇî ḇə·miš·pāṭ ’ap̄- ‘im·māḵ ‘al-

Word by word9 · parsed

פָּקַ֣חְתָּpā·qaḥ·tāDo You openH6491

√ pâqach — to open (the senses, especially the eyes)VerbQalPerfectsecond person masculine singular

pāqaḥ: to open (the eyes) Gill cites renderings “sharpenest thine eyes” (Cocceius, Schultens). The covenant idiom of God's attentive mercy becomes, in Job's mouth, the eye of a prosecutor.

עֵינֶ֑ךָ‘ê·ne·ḵāYour eyesH5869

√ ʻayin — an eye (literally or figuratively)Nouncdcsecond person masculine singular

וְאֹ֘תִ֤יwə·’ō·ṯîH853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawNounmasculine singularfirst person common singular

’ēṯ + suffix: me (object) The pivot from “him” to “me”: the generic lament becomes personal testimony.

זֶ֭הzehto one like thisH2088

√ zeh — the masculine demonstrative pronoun, this or thatPronounmasculine singular

zeh: this “Such a one as this”: contemptuous of man's size, not of God.

תָבִ֖יאṯā·ḇîWill You bring himH935

√ bôwʼ — to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)VerbHifilImperfectsecond person masculine singular

bô’: to come (Hiphil, bring) With bᵉmišpāṭ this is a fixed legal phrase: God “brings into judgment” (Eccl 11:9; 12:14), and the psalmist begs Him not to “enter into judgment” (Ps 143:2). Job's complaint and the psalmist's prayer meet at the same impossibility.

בְמִשְׁפָּ֣טḇə·miš·pāṭinto judgmentH4941

√ mishpâṭ — properly, a verdict (favorable or unfavorable) pronounced judicially, especially a sentence or formal decree (human or (participant's) divine law, individual or collective), including the act, the place, the suit, the crime, and the penaltyPrepositionNounmasculine singular

mišpāṭ: judgment, verdict, case The trial motif that runs through Job 9 to 13 (Barnes compares 9:34 to 35). Job does not deny that God judges; he protests the inequality of the parties.

אַף־’ap̄-H637

√ ʼaph — meaning accession (used as an adverb or conjunction)Conjunction

עִמָּֽךְ׃‘im·māḵbeforeH5973

√ ʻim — adverb or preposition, with (iPrepositionsecond person feminine singular

עַל־‘al-YouH5921

√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition

Literal — word-for-word from the original

Even upon-such-a-one have-You-opened Your-eye, and-me do-You-bring into-judgment with-You?

Where the English smooths the original

פָּקַ֣חְתָּ פָּקַחְתָּ (pāqaḥtā, pāqaḥ): “You have opened (Your eye).” Elsewhere this idiom is a prayer for God's gracious attention (2 Kgs 19:16; Dan 9:18, “open Your eyes and see”). Here it is inverted: Barnes, JFB, Cambridge all read it as narrow, hostile scrutiny. BSB's neutral “open Your eyes to” cannot show the inversion.
וְאֹ֘תִ֤י וְאֹתִי (wᵉ’ōṯî): “and me.” The Hebrew shifts abruptly from the third person (“such a one”) to the first. BSB renders “bring him,” smoothing away the moment Job steps out of the general description and stands in the dock himself. K&D keeps it: “And Thou drawest me before Thy tribunal.”
בְמִשְׁפָּ֣ט בְמִשְׁפָּט (ḇᵉmišpāṭ): “into judgment,” the language of the lawcourt (Barnes). The same phrase with the same verb bô’ forms the prayer of Ps 143:2, “Do not enter into judgment with Your servant.”

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Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

We ought perhaps, however, rather to render “Oh, that the clean could come forth from the unclean! but none can.

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Matthew HenryConcise Commentary on the Whole Bible1706

How is it possible for a man's conduct to be sinless, when his heart is by nature unclean? Here is a clear proof that Job understood and believed the doctrine of original sin.

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The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s

Original uncleanness and infirmity are recognized; but the uncleanness is material, and removable by material expiation ( Leviticus 12:2-8 ). It is rather man's weakness than his sinfulness that is here under discussion.

Pulpit explicitly dissents from the original-sin reading held by Henry, JFB and Barnes; both are shown so the reader can weigh them.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

Like the friends, he acknowledges an hereditary proneness to sin; but this proneness to sin affords him no satisfactory explanation of so unmerciful a visitation of punishment as his seems to him to be. It appears to him that man must the rather be an object of divine forbearance and compassion, since absolute purity is impossible to him.

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Who can bring out clean from unclean? No one!

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

mî- yit·tên ṭā·hō·wr miṭ·ṭā·mê lō ’e·ḥāḏ

Word by word6 · parsed

מִֽי־mî-WhoH4310

√ mîy — who? (occasionally, by a peculiar idiom, of things)Interrogative

mî: who? With yittēn a set wish formula (Deut 28:67; Ps 14:7).

יִתֵּ֣ןyit·têncan bring outH5414

√ nâthan — to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etcVerbQalImperfectthird person masculine singular

nāṯan: to give Barnes records the Chaldee paraphrase that answers the question with God: “except God, who is one.” Benson repeats it; Barnes judges it a departure from the sense.

טָ֭הוֹרṭā·hō·wrcleanH2889

√ ṭâhôwr — pure (in a physical, chemical, ceremonial or moral sense)Adjectivemasculine singular

ṭāhôr: pure, clean Used of ritual, physical and moral purity. Eliphaz (15:14) and Bildad (25:4) will echo this verse against Job.

מִטָּמֵ֗אmiṭ·ṭā·mêfrom uncleanH2931

√ ṭâmêʼ — foul in a religious sensePreposition-mAdjectivemasculine singular

ṭāmē’: unclean Pulpit holds that the uncleanness in view is the material impurity of childbirth (Lev 12:2 to 8), removable by rite; Henry, JFB, Barnes and Gill read it as hereditary sin. The text itself names a defilement that no human agent can reverse.

לֹ֣אlōNoH3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle

אֶחָֽד׃’e·ḥāḏoneH259

√ ʼechâd — properly, united, iNumbermasculine singular

’eḥāḏ: one Job answers his own wish. K&D: “Job's own answer to his wish, that cannot be fulfilled.” Gill adds that there was only one exception: the Holy One born of the virgin.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

Who will-give a-clean thing out-of an-unclean? Not one.

Where the English smooths the original

מִֽי־ יִתֵּ֣ן מִי־יִתֵּן (mî-yittēn): literally “who will give?”, the ordinary Hebrew optative “O that!” Ellicott and Cambridge therefore render “Oh that a clean might come out of an unclean!” K&D agrees: it is a wish, answered by Job himself with “not one.” BSB's “Who can bring out” turns a longing into a rhetorical question. The same idiom opens v. 13.
טָ֭הוֹר מִטָּמֵ֗א טָהוֹר מִטָּמֵא (ṭāhôr miṭṭāmē’): “clean from unclean,” the paired vocabulary of Levitical purity (Lev 10:10). English “clean / unclean” is accurate, but readers should hear the cultic register: Pulpit argues the uncleanness is of birth (Lev 12), while Henry, JFB and Barnes see original sin.
לֹ֣א אֶחָֽד לֹא אֶחָד (lō’ ’eḥāḏ): “not one.” BSB's “No one!” is right; K&D hears an echo of Ps 14:3, ’ên gam-’eḥāḏ, “there is none… not even one,” a verse Paul gathers into Rom 3:10 to 12.

Since his days are determined and the number of his months is with You, and since You have set limits that he cannot exceed,

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Hebrew — tap a word ↓

’im yā·māw ḥă·rū·ṣîm mis·par- ḥo·ḏā·šāw ’it·tāḵ ‘ā·śî·ṯā ḥuq·qō wə·lō ya·‘ă·ḇō·wr

Word by word10 · parsed

אִ֥ם’imSinceH518

√ ʼim — used very widely as demonstrative, lo!Conjunction

יָמָ֗יוyā·māwhis daysH3117

חֲרוּצִ֨ים׀ḥă·rū·ṣîm[are] determinedH2782

√ chârats — properly, to point sharply, iVerbQalQalPassParticiplemasculine plural

ḥāraṣ: to cut, decide Used of decreed destruction in Isa 10:22 to 23 and Dan 9:26 to 27 (JFB). Job's days are not merely few but cut to measure by God's decision.

מִֽסְפַּר־mis·par-and the numberH4557

√ miçpâr — a number, definite (arithmetical) or indefinite (large, innumerableNounmasculine singular construct

mispār: number, tally God keeps the count; in v. 16 He will “count” (sāp̄ar, the cognate verb) Job's steps.

חֳדָשָׁ֥יוḥo·ḏā·šāwof his monthsH2320

√ chôdesh — the new moonNounmasculine plural constructthird person masculine singular

אִתָּ֑ךְ’it·tāḵ[is] with YouH854

√ ʼêth — properly, nearness (used only as a preposition or an adverb), nearPrepositionsecond person feminine singular

’ēṯ: with, near “With You”: K&D, “known by God, because fixed beforehand by Him.”

עָ֝שִׂ֗יתָ‘ā·śî·ṯāand since You have setH6213

√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationVerbQalPerfectsecond person masculine singular

חֻקּוֹḥuq·qōlimitsH2706

√ chôq — an enactmentNounmasculine plural constructthird person masculine singular

ḥōq: statute, decree, appointed limit The word for God's fixed ordinances in creation, as the bound of the sea that it may not pass (Jer 5:22, with the same verb ‘āḇar). Job's lifespan is set like the shoreline. In v. 13 he will plead for a different ḥōq.

וְלֹ֣אwə·lōthat he cannotH3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absConjunctive wawAdverbNegative particle

יַעֲבֽוֹר׃ya·‘ă·ḇō·wrexceedH5674

√ ʻâbar — to cross overVerbQalImperfectthird person masculine singular

‘āḇar: to cross over “He shall not pass over”: the language of a boundary (Ps 104:9; Jer 5:22). Gill cites Seneca to the same effect.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

If cut-out are his-days, the-number of-his-months is with-You; his-statutes You-have-made, and-he-shall-not pass-over,

Where the English smooths the original

חֲרוּצִ֨ים חֲרוּצִים (ḥărûṣîm, Qal passive participle of ḥāraṣ): “cut, incised, decided.” BSB “determined” is the right sense, but the root is concrete, to cut sharply. Gill renders “cut out… exactly and precisely”; K&D links it to the decreed end in Isa 10:23 and Dan 9:27.
חֻקּוֹ חֻקּוֹ (ḥuqqō, Qere ḥuqqāyw): “his statute(s), decree.” BSB “limits” is interpretive. The noun is the word for a fixed ordinance; K&D notes the Qere plural. The same noun returns in v. 13 when Job asks God to set him a ḥōq in Sheol.
אִ֥ם אִם (’im): “if.” BSB “Since” treats the condition as granted, which K&D also does (“If, as is really the case”). The protasis runs through v. 5 and the apodosis comes in v. 6, “look away.”

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

Job does not claim for man the toil which the hireling gladly undergoes in expectation of complete rest, but the toil of the hireling, which seems to him to be rest in comparison with the possibility of having still greater toil to undergo.

K&D is quoting Hahn here; the words are Hahn's as cited by K&D.

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Albert BarnesNotes on the Bible1834

The idea is not that of rest, but it is that of having God cease to afflict him; or, in other words, leaving him to himself.

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

so that he may have such pleasure as is possible in his brief and evil life, which is of no higher kind than the joy of the labourer during his hot and toilsome

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Geneva Study BibleMarginal Notes1599

Until the time you have appointed him to die, which he desires as the hireling waits for the end of his labour to receive his wages.

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look away from him and let him rest, so he can enjoy his day as a hired hand.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

šə·‘êh mê·‘ā·lāw wə·yeḥ·dāl ‘aḏ- yir·ṣeh yō·w·mōw kə·śā·ḵîr

Word by word7 · parsed

שְׁעֵ֣הšə·‘êhlook awayH8159

√ shâʻâh — to gaze at or about (properly, for help)VerbQalImperativemasculine singular

šā‘āh: to gaze, look (with min: look away) As Job 7:19; 10:20 (K&D, Cambridge). Job does not ask God to forsake him but to lift His prosecuting stare.

מֵעָלָ֣יוmê·‘ā·lāwfrom himH5921

√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition-mthird person masculine singular

וְיֶחְדָּ֑לwə·yeḥ·dāland let him restH2308

√ châdal — properly, to be flabby, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive imperfectthird person masculine singular

ḥāḏal: to cease, leave off Poole lists three readings: let him rest, let the affliction cease, let him cease to live; he rejects the last.

עַד־‘aḏ-soH5704

√ ʻad — as far (or long, or much) as, whether of space (even unto) or time (during, while, until) or degree (equally with)Preposition

יִ֝רְצֶ֗הyir·ṣehhe can enjoyH7521

√ râtsâh — to be pleased withVerbQalImperfectthird person masculine singular

rāṣāh: to be pleased with; to pay off The same verb is used when the land “enjoys its sabbaths” (Lev 26:34) and when Jerusalem's iniquity is “paid off” (Isa 40:2, cited by Cambridge). K&D, quoting Hahn, argues the hireling's day is itself the modest pleasure Job asks for.

יוֹמֽוֹ׃yō·w·mōwhis dayH3117

כְּשָׂכִ֥ירkə·śā·ḵîras a hired handH7916

√ sâkîyr — a man at wages by the day or yearPreposition-kAdjectivemasculine singular

śāḵîr: hired labourer The image of Job 7:1 to 2: life as a day-labourer's shift, toilsome but bounded.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

Gaze-away from-upon-him, that-he-may-cease, until he-takes-pleasure, like-a-hireling, in-his-day.

Where the English smooths the original

שְׁעֵ֣ה שְׁעֵה (šᵉ‘ēh, imperative of šā‘āh): “look away.” BSB is good; KJV “Turn from him” loses the visual sense. Cambridge: “turn thy keen scrutiny away from him.” It answers the opened eye of v. 3.
וְיֶחְדָּ֑ל וְיֶחְדָּל (wᵉyeḥdāl, ḥāḏal): “that he may cease, desist.” BSB “rest” is a gloss; Barnes insists “the idea is not that of rest.” The same verb in v. 7 says the tree's shoots “will not cease”: man begs to cease, the stump never ceases.
יִ֝רְצֶ֗ה יִרְצֶה (yirṣeh, rāṣāh): “take pleasure in” or “pay off, complete.” KJV “accomplish” takes the second; BSB “enjoy” the first. Cambridge allows both (cf. Isa 40:2). The ambiguity is real and should not be hidden.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

This is a fact, which is used by Isaiah ( Isaiah 6:1-13 ) as an emblem of a fundamental law in operation in the history of Israel: the terebinth and oak there symbolize Israel; the stump (מצבת) is the remnant that survives the judgment, and this remnant becomes the seed from which a new sanctified Israel springs up after the old is destroyed.

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

His destiny is sadder even than that of the tree. His sleep in death is eternal.

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Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871

This does not deny a future life, but a return to the present condition of life. Job plainly hopes for a future state (Job 14:13; Job 7:2). Still, it is but vague and trembling hope, not assurance; excepting the one bright glimpse in Job 19:25.

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For there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its tender shoots will not fail.

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Hebrew — tap a word ↓

kî yêš tiq·wāh lā·‘êṣ ’im- yik·kā·rêṯ ya·ḥă·lîp̄ wə·‘ō·wḏ wə·yō·naq·tōw lō ṯeḥ·dāl

Word by word11 · parsed

כִּ֤יkîForH3588

√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction

יֵ֥שׁyêšthere isH3426

√ yêsh — there is or are (or any other form of the verb to be, as may suit the connection)Adverb

תִּ֫קְוָ֥הtiq·wāhhopeH8615

√ tiqvâh — literally a cord (as an attachment)Nounfeminine singular

tiqwāh: hope; cord A key word of Job (4:6; 7:6, “my days… end without hope”; 19:10, “He has uprooted my hope like a tree”). Here the tree is the one creature that still has hope.

לָעֵ֗ץlā·‘êṣfor a treeH6086

√ ʻêts — a tree (from its firmness)Preposition-l, ArticleNounmasculine singular

אִֽם־’im-IfH518

√ ʼim — used very widely as demonstrative, lo!Conjunction

יִ֭כָּרֵתyik·kā·rêṯit is cut downH3772

√ kârath — to cut (off, down or asunder)VerbNifalImperfectthird person masculine singular

kāraṯ: to cut (Niphal, be cut down) The common verb of cutting off and of cutting a covenant.

יַחֲלִ֑יףya·ḥă·lîp̄it will sproutH2498

√ châlaph — properly, to slide by, iVerbHifilImperfectthird person masculine singular

ḥālap̄: to pass on, change, renew (Hiphil) The same verb is used of the heavens that God “changes” like a garment (Ps 102:26) and of those who “renew their strength” (Isa 40:31). Its noun ḥălîp̄āh is Job's “change” in v. 14: the chapter's hope hangs on this root.

וְע֣וֹדwə·‘ō·wḏagainH5750

√ ʻôwd — properly, iteration or continuanceConjunctive wawAdverb

וְ֝יֹֽנַקְתּ֗וֹwə·yō·naq·tōwand its tender shootsH3127

√ yôwneqeth — a sproutConjunctive wawNounfeminine singular constructthird person masculine singular

yôneqeṯ: sucker, sprout Pulpit and K&D cite natural observations of palms and chestnuts that throw up suckers from a felled stump.

לֹ֣אlōwill notH3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle

תֶחְדָּֽל׃ṯeḥ·dālfailH2308

√ châdal — properly, to be flabby, iVerbQalImperfectthird person feminine singular

ḥāḏal: to cease Echoes v. 6: man asks to “cease”; the tree's life does not.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

For there-is for-the-tree hope: if it-is-cut-down, still it-will-sprout-anew, and-its-tender-shoot will-not cease.

Where the English smooths the original

תִּ֫קְוָ֥ה תִּקְוָה (tiqwāh): “hope,” from qāwāh, to wait, with the concrete sense of a cord (the scarlet cord of Josh 2:18 is a tiqwāh). BSB keeps “hope.” The word forms an inclusio: the tree has tiqwāh here; in v. 19 God destroys man's tiqwāh.
יַחֲלִ֑יף יַחֲלִיף (yaḥălîp̄, Hiphil of ḥālap̄): “it will renew, change, sprout afresh.” BSB “sprout again” hides the root. In v. 14 Job uses the noun from the same root, חֲלִיפָתִי “my change, my renewal”: the tree's renewal is the very thing he longs for.
וְ֝יֹֽנַקְתּ֗וֹ יֹנַקְתּוֹ (yōnaqtô): “its sucker,” from yānaq, to suck, nurse. BSB “tender shoots” is right; K&D: “the tender juicy sucker.” The image is of a nursling springing from the dead stock.

If its roots grow old in the ground and its stump dies in the soil,

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Hebrew — tap a word ↓

’im- šā·rə·šōw yaz·qîn bā·’ā·reṣ giz·‘ōw yā·mūṯ ū·ḇe·‘ā·p̄ār

Word by word7 · parsed

אִם־’im-IfH518

√ ʼim — used very widely as demonstrative, lo!Conjunction

שָׁרְשׁ֑וֹšā·rə·šōwits rootsH8328

√ sheresh — a root (literally or figuratively)Nounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular

šōreš: root Shared with Isa 11:1 and Job 18:16 (Verifier). Bildad will answer at 18:16 that the wicked man's “roots dry up beneath,” turning Job's tree image against him.

יַזְקִ֣יןyaz·qîngrow oldH2204

√ zâqên — to be oldVerbHifilImperfectthird person masculine singular

zāqēn: to be old Inchoative Hiphil (K&D). The tree ages like a man and yet, unlike a man, revives.

בָּאָ֣רֶץbā·’ā·reṣin the groundH776

√ ʼerets — the earth (at large, or partitively a land)Preposition-b, ArticleNounfeminine singular

גִּזְעֽוֹ׃giz·‘ōwand its stumpH1503

√ gezaʻ — the trunk or stump of atree (as felled or as planted)Nounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular

geza‘: stump, trunk Verifier: 3 verses only (Job 14:8; Isa 11:1; 40:24). In Isaiah 11:1 the felled Davidic house is a geza‘ from which a shoot comes; in Isa 40:24 the rulers' geza‘ barely takes root before God blows on it. Job's stump stands between the two.

יָמ֥וּתyā·mūṯdiesH4191

√ mûwth — to die (literally or figuratively)VerbQalImperfectthird person masculine singular

mûṯ: to die Of the stump, poetically; Poole: dead “in outward appearance.”

וּ֝בֶעָפָ֗רū·ḇe·‘ā·p̄ārin the soilH6083

√ ʻâphâr — dust (as powdered or gray)Conjunctive waw, Preposition-b, ArticleNounmasculine singular

‘āp̄ār: dust The Adamic dust (Gen 3:19). Even in the dust the tree has a future; man returns to it.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

If its-root grows-old in-the-earth, and-in-the-dust its-stump dies,

Where the English smooths the original

גִּזְעֽוֹ גִּזְעוֹ (giz‘ô, geza‘): “its stump, stock.” A rare word (Verifier: 3 verses), shared only with Isa 11:1 (“a shoot from the stump of Jesse”) and Isa 40:24. BSB “stump” is accurate; the rarity is what English cannot show.
וּ֝בֶעָפָ֗ר וּבֶעָפָר (ûḇe‘āp̄ār): “in the dust,” not merely “soil.” ‘Āp̄ār is the dust of Gen 2:7 and 3:19, the dust to which Adam returns, and it reappears in v. 19. BSB “soil” loses the mortal overtone.
יַזְקִ֣ין יַזְקִין (yazqîn, Hiphil of zāqēn): “grows old.” K&D calls it an inchoative Hiphil, “begins to age.” The tree is described in the language of an aged man.

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Albert BarnesNotes on the Bible1834

The idea is very delicate and poetic. It is designed to denote a gentle and pleasant contact - not a rush of water - by which the tree is made to live. It inhales, so to speak, the vital influence from the water

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Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871

In the antithesis to man the tree is personified, and volition is poetically ascribed to it.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

The tree reviving as from the dead at the scent of water, which Job describes, is like that wondrous bird rising again from its own ashes

K&D's phoenix comparison is a literary aside from classical lore, not a claim about the Hebrew text.

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John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

the design of this simile is to show that man's case is worse than that of trees, which when cut down sprout out again, and are in the place where they were before; but man, when he is cut down by death, rises up no more in the same place

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at the scent of water it will bud and put forth twigs like a sapling.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

mê·rê·aḥ ma·yim yap̄·ri·aḥ wə·‘ā·śāh qā·ṣîr kə·mōw- nā·ṭa‘

Word by word7 · parsed

מֵרֵ֣יחַmê·rê·aḥat the scentH7381

√ rêyach — odor (as if blown)Preposition-mNounmasculine singular construct

rêaḥ: odour, scent The word of the “pleasing aroma” of sacrifice (Gen 8:21). JFB: volition is poetically ascribed to the tree, as if it breathes in life.

מַ֣יִםma·yimof waterH4325

√ mayim — waterNounmasculine plural

יַפְרִ֑חַyap̄·ri·aḥit will budH6524

√ pârach — to break forth as a bud, iVerbHifilImperfectthird person masculine singular

pāraḥ: to break forth, bud (Hiphil) The verb of Aaron's rod that budded overnight as a sign of life from dead wood (Num 17:5, 8). Here the sign is natural, given to a tree but not to man.

וְעָשָׂ֖הwə·‘ā·śāhand put forthH6213

√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationConjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectthird person masculine singular

קָצִ֣ירqā·ṣîrtwigsH7105

√ qâtsîyr — severed, iNounmasculine singular

qāṣîr: harvest; bough Shared with Job 18:16 and Isa 17:11 (Verifier); Bildad reuses it of the wicked whose “branch” withers.

כְּמוֹ־kə·mōw-likeH3644

√ kᵉmôw — a form of the prefix 'k-', but used separately as, thus, soPreposition

נָֽטַע׃nā·ṭa‘a saplingH5194

√ neṭaʻ — a plantNounmasculine singular

neṭa‘: plant, planting Verifier: 4 verses (Job 14:9; Isa 5:7; 17:10; 17:11). In Isaiah the word is used for Israel as God's planting and for the “pleasant plants” of idolatry.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

From-the-scent of-water it-will-bud, and-make branches like a-new-planting.

Where the English smooths the original

מֵרֵ֣יחַ מֵרֵיחַ (mērêaḥ, rêaḥ): “from the scent / odour.” KJV keeps “scent”; some modern versions flatten it to “at the touch” or “with water.” K&D: rêaḥ is always scent; Barnes calls the figure “very delicate and poetic,” a gentle contact rather than a flood.
קָצִ֣יר קָצִיר (qāṣîr): normally “harvest” (Gen 8:22); here “branches, twigs” (Barnes; K&D “cuttings, twigs”). BSB “twigs” is right, but the reader should know the same word elsewhere means harvest.
נָֽטַע נָטַע (nāṭa‘, pausal of neṭa‘): “a planting.” A rare word (Verifier: 4 verses, including Isa 5:7, the vineyard “planting” of the LORD). LXX “as if newly planted” (K&D). BSB “sapling” is fine.

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Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871

Two distinct Hebrew words are here used; Geber, a mighty man: though mighty, he dies. Adam, a man of earth: because earthly, he gives up the ghost.

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The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s

The question, "Where is he?" is an acknowledgment of this profound ignorance.

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Geneva Study BibleMarginal Notes1599

He speaks here not as though he had no hope of immortality but as a man in extreme pain, when reason is overcome by afflictions and torments.

Geneva and Pulpit read Job's question differently: Geneva as pain overpowering hope, Pulpit as honest ignorance.

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Albert BarnesNotes on the Bible1834

The notion of giving up the spirit or the ghost - an idea not improper in itself - is not found in the Hebrew word, nor is it in the corresponding Greek word in the New Testament

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But a man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last, and where is he?

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wə·ḡe·ḇer yā·mūṯ way·ye·ḥĕ·lāš ’ā·ḏām way·yiḡ·wa‘ wə·’ay·yōw

Word by word6 · parsed

וְגֶ֣בֶרwə·ḡe·ḇerBut a manH1397

√ geber — properly, a valiant man or warriorConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular

geber: mighty man, warrior From gāḇar, to be strong. JFB: “though mighty, he dies.” The same noun returns in v. 14.

יָ֭מוּתyā·mūṯdiesH4191

√ mûwth — to die (literally or figuratively)VerbQalImperfectthird person masculine singular

וַֽיֶּחֱלָ֑שׁway·ye·ḥĕ·lāšand is laid lowH2522

√ châlash — to prostrateConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

ḥālaš: to prostrate, overthrow Verifier: only 3 verses (Job 14:10; Exod 17:13; Isa 14:12), always of being defeated or laid flat. Death is pictured as a conquest. K&D: “completely broken down and melted away.”

אָדָ֣ם’ā·ḏāmheH120

√ ʼâdâm — ruddy iNounmasculine singular

’āḏām: man, earthling JFB: “a man of earth: because earthly, he gives up the ghost.”

וַיִּגְוַ֖עway·yiḡ·wa‘breathes his lastH1478

√ gâvaʻ — to breathe out, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

gāwa‘: to breathe out, expire The verb of the patriarchs' deaths (Gen 25:8; 35:29), where it is followed by “gathered to his people.” Job's sentence has no such sequel; instead, a question.

וְאַיּֽוֹ׃wə·’ay·yōwand where [is] heH335

√ ʼay — where? hence how?Conjunctive wawInterrogativethird person masculine singular

’ay: where? With suffix: “and where is he?” Pulpit treats it as a confession of ignorance; Gill answers it from the New Testament (with Christ, or in torment).

Literal — word-for-word from the original

But-a-strong-man dies and-is-laid-prostrate; and-Adam expires, and-where-is-he?

Where the English smooths the original

וְגֶ֣בֶר וְגֶבֶר (wᵉḡeḇer): “but a strong man, a mighty one.” BSB “a man” erases the deliberate choice. JFB and Pulpit both stress it: though mighty, he dies. The verse then switches to אָדָם, man of earth.
וַֽיֶּחֱלָ֑שׁ וַיֶּחֱלָשׁ (wayyeḥĕlāš, ḥālaš): “and is laid prostrate, overthrown.” KJV “wasteth away,” BSB “is laid low.” Cambridge: “lit. is laid prostrate.” A rare verb (Verifier: 3 verses) used of Joshua overwhelming Amalek (Exod 17:13) and of the fallen one who “laid low the nations” (Isa 14:12).
וַיִּגְוַ֖ע וַיִּגְוַע (wayyiḡwa‘, gāwa‘): “and he expires, breathes out.” KJV “giveth up the ghost.” Barnes notes that the idea of giving up a spirit is not in the Hebrew word itself, only expiring. BSB “breathes his last” is accurate.

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Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

The comparison that is implied, but not expressed, is one of contrariety. The waters will have failed from the sea, and the rivers will have wasted and become dry, and yet the man who hath lain down ( in death ) will not arise: i.e., sooner than that shall happen, the sea will fail and the great rivers become dry.

Ellicott's minority reading (contrast, not comparison) is shown alongside the majority view; the Hebrew lacks the particle “as” either way.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

this vanishing away without hope and beyond recovery is contemplated under the figure of running water, or of water that is dried up and never returns again to its channel.

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

i. e. the inland sea or pool, cf. Isaiah 19:5 ; so in Arabic bahr , sea, is any mass of water whether salt or fresh, and also a river.

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As water disappears from the sea and a river becomes parched and dry,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ma·yim ’ā·zə·lū- min·nî- yām wə·nā·hār ye·ḥĕ·raḇ wə·yā·ḇêš

Word by word7 · parsed

מַ֭יִםma·yimAs waterH4325

√ mayim — waterNounmasculine plural

אָֽזְלוּ־’ā·zə·lū-disappearsH235

√ ʼâzal — to go away, hence, to disappearVerbQalPerfectthird person common plural

’āzal: to go away, disappear K&D notes Isaiah's parallel uses nāšaṯ here but the next clause verbatim.

מִנִּי־min·nî-fromH4480

√ min — properly, a part ofPreposition

יָ֑םyāmthe seaH3220

√ yâm — a sea (as breaking in noisy surf) or large body of waterNounmasculine singular

yām: sea, large body of water Cambridge: in Arabic bahr covers sea, lake, river alike.

וְ֝נָהָ֗רwə·nā·hārand a riverH5104

√ nâhâr — a stream (including the seaConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular

nāhār: river, stream The whole clause wᵉnāhār yeḥĕraḇ wᵉyāḇēš recurs in Isa 19:5 (see Threads).

יֶחֱרַ֥בye·ḥĕ·raḇbecomes parchedH2717

√ chârab — to parch (through drought) iVerbQalImperfectthird person masculine singular

ḥāraḇ: to be dried, laid waste K&D: the drying-in, followed by yāḇēš, the complete drying-up.

וְיָבֵֽשׁ׃wə·yā·ḇêšand dryH3001

√ yâbêsh — to be ashamed, confused or disappointedConjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectthird person masculine singular

yāḇēš: to dry up, wither Also the word for withered grass (Isa 40:7 to 8).

Literal — word-for-word from the original

Waters have-gone-away from the-sea, and-a-river dries-up and-is-dry;

Where the English smooths the original

מַ֭יִם מַיִם (mayim): “waters,” with no comparative particle. BSB and KJV add “As.” Ellicott argues the absence of “as” matters: the comparison is one of contrariety (sooner will the sea fail than the dead rise). Gill gives both readings; K&D reads the following waw of v. 12 as a waw of comparison.
אָֽזְלוּ־ אָזְלוּ (’āzᵉlû, ’āzal): “have gone away, flowed off.” A perfect: the waters are gone. BSB “disappears” is serviceable.
יָ֑ם יָם (yām): “sea,” but used of lakes and great rivers (Nile, Euphrates). Barnes, JFB and Cambridge argue for an inland lake or pool, since the ocean never dries. BSB “sea” is literal but invites the objection Ellicott raises.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

for what does not happen until the heavens are no more (comp. Psalm 72:7 , till the moon is no more), never happens

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Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871

Even if, by this phrase, Job meant "never" (Ps 89:29) in his gloomier state of feelings, yet the Holy Ghost has made him unconsciously (1Pe 1:11, 12) use language expressing the truth, that the resurrection is to be preceded by the dissolution of the heavens.

JFB's claim that the Spirit led Job to speak beyond his own understanding (citing 1 Pet 1:11 to 12) is a theological inference, not something the Hebrew itself establishes.

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The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s

If "the glimmer of a hope" of the resurrection appears anywhere in vers. 10-12, it is in the comparison of death to a sleep, which is inseparably connected in our minds with an awakening.

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Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685

Not until the time of the general resurrection, and the restitution of things, when these visible heavens shall pass away, and be no more, at least in the same form and manner as now they are

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so a man lies down and does not rise. Until the heavens are no more, he will not be awakened or roused from sleep.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wə·’îš šā·ḵaḇ wə·lō- yā·qūm ‘aḏ- šā·ma·yim bil·tî lō yā·qî·ṣū wə·lō- yê·‘ō·rū miš·šə·nā·ṯām

Word by word12 · parsed

וְאִ֥ישׁwə·’îšso a manH376

√ ʼîysh — a man as an individual or a male personConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular

שָׁכַ֗בšā·ḵaḇlies downH7901

√ shâkab — to lie down (for rest, sexual connection, decease or any other purpose)VerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular

šāḵaḇ: to lie down The verb of “lying down with the fathers” (Gen 47:30; 2 Sam 7:12), as Poole notes.

וְֽלֹא־wə·lō-and does notH3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absConjunctive wawAdverbNegative particle

יָ֫ק֥וּםyā·qūmriseH6965

√ qûwm — to rise (in various applications, literal, figurative, intensive and causative)VerbQalImperfectthird person masculine singular

qûm: to rise Isa 26:19 promises “their bodies shall rise” (yᵉqûmûn): the same root answering Job's negation.

עַד־‘aḏ-UntilH5704

√ ʻad — as far (or long, or much) as, whether of space (even unto) or time (during, while, until) or degree (equally with)Preposition

שָׁ֭מַיִםšā·ma·yimthe heavensH8064

√ shâmayim — the sky (as aloftNounmasculine plural

šāmayim: heavens Cambridge, Barnes: the heavens stand for permanence (Ps 89:29, 36 to 37; Jer 31:35 to 36). Yet Ps 102:25 to 26 and 2 Pet 3:10 speak of the heavens passing away, which is why JFB and Poole read the phrase as the end of the age.

בִּלְתִּ֣יbil·tîare no moreH1115

√ biltîy — properly, a failure of, iPreposition

לֹ֣אlōhe will notH3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle

יָקִ֑יצוּyā·qî·ṣūbe awakenedH6974

√ qûwts — to awake (literally or figuratively)VerbHifilImperfectthird person masculine plural

qûṣ: to awake (Hiphil) Verifier: 21 verses. The same form in Dan 12:2 and the imperative in Isa 26:19 (“awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust”). Job's word becomes the prophets' promise.

וְלֹֽא־wə·lō-[or]H3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absConjunctive wawAdverbNegative particle

יֵ֝עֹ֗רוּyê·‘ō·rūrousedH5782

√ ʻûwr — to wake (literally or figuratively)VerbNifalImperfectthird person masculine plural

‘ûr: to wake, rouse (Niphal) K&D: equivalent to the Greek egeiresthai, the New Testament verb of resurrection.

מִשְּׁנָתָֽם׃miš·šə·nā·ṯāmfrom sleepH8142

√ shênâh — sleepPreposition-mNounfeminine singular constructthird person masculine plural

šēnāh: sleep Pulpit: the very figure of sleep is inseparable from the thought of awakening.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

So-a-man lies-down and-does-not rise; until the-heavens are-no-more they-will-not awake, nor-be-roused from-their-sleep.

Where the English smooths the original

יָקִ֑יצוּ יָקִיצוּ (yāqîṣû, Hiphil of qûṣ): “they will awake.” The identical form is the promise of Dan 12:2, “many who sleep in the dust… shall awake.” BSB's singular “he will not be awakened” conceals that the Hebrew switches to the plural, which K&D says applies the verdict to each member of the race.
בִּלְתִּ֣י בִּלְתִּי (biltî): “not, failure of.” “Until the heavens are no-more.” Whether this means “never” (K&D, Cambridge, Barnes) or “not until the end of the age” (Benson, Poole, JFB, Gill) is a real interpretive fork that BSB's wording leaves open.
יָ֫ק֥וּם יָקוּם (yāqûm, qûm): “he will rise, stand up.” BSB “rise” is exact; the verb is the ordinary Old Testament word for rising, used of the dead in Isa 26:14, 19.

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

Death was not an end of personal existence: the dead person subsisted, he did not live. He descended into Sheol, the abode of deceased persons. His existence was a dreamy shadow of his past life. He had no communion with the living, whether men or God;

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Joseph BensonCommentary on the Old and New Testaments1810s

The grave is not only a resting-place, but a hiding-place to the children of God: Christ has the key of the grave to open and let in now, and to let out at the resurrection. God hides his people in the grave as we hide our treasure in a place of secrecy and safety; and he that hides will find what he has hid, and nothing shall be lost.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

So Job wishes that Hades, into which the wrath of God now precipitates him for ever, may only be a temporary place of safety for him, until the wrath of God turn away (שׁוּב, comp. the causative, Job 9:13 ); that God would appoint to him, when there, a חק, i.e., a terminus ad quem (comp. Job 14:5 ), and when this limit should be reached, again remember him in mercy.

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Geneva Study BibleMarginal Notes1599

By this he declares that the fear of God's judgment was the reason why he desired to die. (f) That is, relieve my pain and take me to mercy.

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If only You would hide me in Sheol and conceal me until Your anger has passed! If only You would appoint a time for me and then remember me!

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

mî yit·tên taṣ·pi·nê·nî biš·’ō·wl tas·tî·rê·nî ‘aḏ- ’ap·pe·ḵā šūḇ tā·šîṯ ḥōq lî wə·ṯiz·kə·rê·nî

Word by word12 · parsed

מִ֤יmîIf onlyH4310

√ mîy — who? (occasionally, by a peculiar idiom, of things)Interjection

mî yittēn: O that! The wish formula of v. 4, now pointed toward the future (K&D).

יִתֵּ֨ן׀yit·tên. . .H5414

√ nâthan — to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etcVerbQalImperfectthird person masculine singular

תַּצְפִּנֵ֗נִיtaṣ·pi·nê·nîYou would hide meH6845

√ tsâphan — to hide (by covering over)VerbHifilImperfectsecond person masculine singularfirst person common singular

ṣāp̄an: to hide, treasure up (Hiphil) Used of God hiding His own in His shelter (Ps 27:5; 31:20) and of treasures laid up (Prov 2:1, 7). Benson: God hides His people in the grave as we hide treasure, and “he that hides will find what he has hid.”

בִּשְׁא֬וֹלbiš·’ō·wlin SheolH7585

√ shᵉʼôwl — Hades or the world of the dead (as if a subterranean retreat), including its accessories and inmatesPreposition-bNouncommon singular

šᵉ’ôl: the world of the dead Cambridge stresses that Sheol in Job is a shadowy continuation, not annihilation; Job imagines it as a temporary refuge rather than a final prison.

תַּ֭סְתִּירֵנִיtas·tî·rê·nîand conceal meH5641

√ çâthar — to hide (by covering), literally or figurativelyVerbHifilImperfectsecond person masculine singularfirst person common singular

sāṯar: to hide, conceal (Hiphil) Normally Job complains that God “hides His face” (13:24, same root); here he asks God to hide him.

עַד־‘aḏ-untilH5704

√ ʻad — as far (or long, or much) as, whether of space (even unto) or time (during, while, until) or degree (equally with)Preposition

אַפֶּ֑ךָ’ap·pe·ḵāYour angerH639

√ ʼaph — properly, the nose or nostrilNounmasculine singular constructsecond person masculine singular

’ap̄: nose, anger The wrath Job wishes to outlast. K&D: wrath is “only a waning power” and love God's essential attribute (cf. Isa 54:8).

שׁ֣וּבšūḇhas passedH7725

√ shûwb — to turn back (hence, away) transitively or intransitively, literally or figuratively (not necessarily with the idea of return to the starting point)VerbQalInfinitive construct

šûḇ: to turn, return “Until Your anger turns”: the same verb of repentance and return.

תָּ֤שִׁ֥יתtā·šîṯIf only You would appointH7896

√ shîyth — to place (in a very wide application)VerbQalImperfectsecond person masculine singular

חֹ֣קḥōqa timeH2706

√ chôq — an enactmentNounmasculine singular

ḥōq: decree, appointed term Answers v. 5. Acts 1:7 (cited by JFB) speaks of “times or seasons the Father has fixed.”

לִ֖יlîfor me

Prepositionfirst person common singular

וְתִזְכְּרֵֽנִי׃wə·ṯiz·kə·rê·nîand then remember meH2142

√ zâkar — properly, to mark (so as to be recognized), iConjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive imperfectsecond person masculine singularfirst person common singular

zāḵar: to remember The covenant verb of saving remembrance: “God remembered Noah” (Gen 8:1, cited by Benson), Rachel, Hannah. Poole: God is said to remember those He delivers. On the cross the thief will ask exactly this (Luke 23:42).

Literal — word-for-word from the original

Who will-give: in-Sheol You-would-treasure-me-away, You-would-hide-me until Your-anger turns; You-would-set for-me a-statute, and-remember-me!

Where the English smooths the original

תַּצְפִּנֵ֗נִי תַּצְפִּנֵנִי (taṣpinēnî, Hiphil of ṣāp̄an): “You would hide me as treasure.” Ṣāp̄an means to hide by storing up, used of treasured things and of God sheltering His own (Ps 27:5; 31:20, cited by K&D). BSB “hide” is correct but drops the treasuring note that Benson and Gill draw out.
בִּשְׁא֬וֹל בִּשְׁאוֹל (biš’ôl): “in Sheol.” BSB rightly keeps Sheol; KJV “the grave.” Barnes argues it means the region of the dead, not merely the tomb; Pulpit and Cambridge agree.
חֹ֣ק חֹק (ḥōq): “a statute, appointed limit.” BSB “a time” is the sense, but it is the very noun of v. 5 (“his limits”). Job asks God to issue a second decree: not the boundary of life, but a term for his stay in death (K&D: “a terminus ad quem”).

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Alexander MaclarenExpositions of Holy Scripturec. 1905

The answer, in fact, is the resurrection of Christ. Apart from this answer there is none.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

The answer which Job's consciousness, ignorant of anything better, alone can give, is: No, there is no life after death.

K&D and Geneva stand at opposite ends: K&D hears Job's honest “No,” Geneva a confession of resurrection. The text's interrogative form permits both, and this unit does not force a choice.

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Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871

my release, as a soldier at his post released from duty by the relieving guard

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Geneva Study BibleMarginal Notes1599

Meaning, to the day of the resurrection when he would be changed and renewed.

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When a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait, until my renewal comes.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

’im- ge·ḇer yā·mūṯ hă·yiḥ·yeh kāl- yə·mê ṣə·ḇā·’î ’ă·ya·ḥêl ‘aḏ- ḥă·lî·p̄ā·ṯî bō·w

Word by word11 · parsed

אִם־’im-WhenH518

√ ʼim — used very widely as demonstrative, lo!Conjunction

גֶּ֗בֶרge·ḇera manH1397

√ geber — properly, a valiant man or warriorNounmasculine singular

geber: strong man As v. 10: the mighty one who dies.

יָמ֥וּתyā·mūṯdiesH4191

√ mûwth — to die (literally or figuratively)VerbQalImperfectthird person masculine singular

הֲיִ֫חְיֶ֥הhă·yiḥ·yehwill he live [again]H2421

√ châyâh — to live, whether literally or figurativelyVerbQalImperfectthird person masculine singular

ḥāyāh: to live The question at the centre of the chapter and, Maclaren argues, of human religion. Ezek 37:3 asks it of dry bones: “can these bones live?” (hăṯiḥyeynāh).

כָּל־kāl-AllH3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct

יְמֵ֣יyə·mêthe daysH3117

צְבָאִ֣יṣə·ḇā·’îof my hard serviceH6635

√ tsâbâʼ — a mass of persons (or figuratively, things), especially regNouncommon singular constructfirst person common singular

ṣāḇā’: host, army, service Job 7:1 (“Has not man a hard service on earth?”) and Isa 40:2 (“her warfare is ended”). Life, and in K&D's reading the night of Sheol too, is a tour of duty.

אֲיַחֵ֑ל’ă·ya·ḥêlI will waitH3176

√ yâchal — to waitVerbPielImperfectfirst person common singular

yāḥal: to wait (Piel) The waiting of hope (Ps 130:5; Lam 3:21, 24). Job 13:15 uses the same verb: “though He slay me, I will hope in Him.”

עַד־‘aḏ-untilH5704

√ ʻad — as far (or long, or much) as, whether of space (even unto) or time (during, while, until) or degree (equally with)Preposition

חֲלִיפָתִֽי׃ḥă·lî·p̄ā·ṯîmy renewalH2487

√ chălîyphâh — alternationNounfeminine singular constructfirst person common singular

ḥălîp̄āh: change, relief, succession From ḥālap̄ (v. 7). The heavens that God will “change” like a garment (Ps 102:26) are changed by the same root; Geneva and Gill read the resurrection change of 1 Cor 15:51 to 52.

בּ֝֗וֹאbō·wcomesH935

√ bôwʼ — to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)VerbQalInfinitive construct

bô’: to come “Until my change comes”: Job waits for an arrival, not an achievement.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

If a-strong-man dies, will-he-live? All the-days of-my-warfare I-will-wait, until comes my-change.

Where the English smooths the original

צְבָאִ֣י צְבָאִי (ṣᵉḇā’î, ṣāḇā’): “my warfare, my military service.” BSB “hard service” is close; KJV “appointed time” loses it. The noun is the word for an army or host. Barnes, Gill, JFB, K&D and Pulpit all read “warfare” (cf. Job 7:1; Isa 40:2).
חֲלִיפָתִֽי חֲלִיפָתִי (ḥălîp̄āṯî, ḥălîp̄āh): “my change, relief, succession.” BSB “renewal” takes one side of a real debate: JFB (after Umbreit) reads the relief of a sentry; Pulpit “renewal”; K&D “change of condition,” rejecting the Jewish expositors' “death.” The noun shares its root with the tree's “sprout anew” (v. 7).
הֲיִ֫חְיֶ֥ה הֲיִחְיֶה (hăyiḥyeh): “will he live?” with the interrogative hă-; “again” is supplied. The question's force is disputed: a negation (Barnes, Pulpit, Poole, K&D) or an opening toward hope (JFB, Gill, Geneva, Benson after Houbigant).

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

After His anger was spent, God would again yearn after the work of His hands (comp. Job 10:3 ), the natural loving relation between the Creator and His creature would again prevail, and it would become manifest that wrath is only a waning power ( Isaiah 54:8 ), and love His true and essential attribute.

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Albert BarnesNotes on the Bible1834

and then the verb means to pine or long after anything, so as to become pale.

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The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s

Job assumes that God must love whatever he has created, and be drawn towards it by a secret, strong desire.

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Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685

Nor is it strange that Job, who lately was upon the brink of despair, doth now breathe out words of hope; such ebbings and flowings being usual, both with Job elsewhere, as Job 13:15 ,16 , and with David frequently in the Psalms

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You will call, and I will answer; You will desire the work of Your hands.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

tiq·rā wə·’ā·nō·ḵî ’e·‘ĕ·ne·kā ṯiḵ·sōp̄ lə·ma·‘ă·śêh yā·ḏe·ḵā

Word by word6 · parsed

תִּ֭קְרָאtiq·rāYou will callH7121

√ qârâʼ — to call out to (iVerbQalImperfectsecond person masculine singular

qārā’: to call, summon The same pair “call / answer” is Job's courtroom request at 13:22 (Poole). Here it becomes a summons out of Sheol.

וְאָנֹכִ֣יwə·’ā·nō·ḵîand IH595

√ ʼânôkîy — IConjunctive wawPronounfirst person common singular

אֶֽעֱנֶ֑ךָּ’e·‘ĕ·ne·kāwill answerH6030

√ ʻânâh — properly, to eye or (generally) to heed, iVerbQalImperfectfirst person common singularsecond person masculine singular

‘ānāh: to answer Benson: the readiness of a servant answering “Here I am.”

תִכְסֹֽף׃ṯiḵ·sōp̄You will desireH3700

√ kâçaph — properly, to become pale, iVerbQalImperfectsecond person masculine singular

kāsap̄: to long, grow pale with desire Used of Jacob's homesick longing (Gen 31:30) and the soul fainting for God's courts (Ps 84:2). Job dares to say God would feel the same toward His creature. K&D and Pulpit both draw out this boldness.

לְֽמַעֲשֵׂ֖הlə·ma·‘ă·śêhthe workH4639

√ maʻăseh — an action (good or bad)Preposition-lNounmasculine singular construct

ma‘ăśeh: work, deed “The work of Your hands” recalls Job 10:3, 8 (“Your hands fashioned and made me”) and anticipates Ps 138:8, “do not forsake the work of Your hands.”

יָדֶ֣יךָyā·ḏe·ḵāof Your handsH3027

√ yâd — a hand (the open one (indicating power, means, direction, etcNounfeminine dual constructsecond person masculine singular

yāḏ: hand Dual: both hands, the personal craftsmanship of the Creator.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

You-will-call, and-I, I-will-answer You; for-the-work of-Your-hands You-will-long.

Where the English smooths the original

תִכְסֹֽף תִכְסֹף (ṯiḵsōp̄, kāsap̄): “You will long, yearn.” Barnes and JFB: literally “to become pale” with longing; the noun kesep̄ (silver) is from the same root. BSB “desire” is weaker than the Hebrew, which ascribes an aching longing to God (cf. Gen 31:30; Ps 84:2).
וְאָנֹכִ֣י וְאָנֹכִי (wᵉ’ānōḵî): “and I,” an emphatic independent pronoun. BSB “and I will answer” keeps the words but not the emphasis: I myself will answer.
תִּ֭קְרָא תִּקְרָא (tiqrā’): imperfect, “You will / would call.” Pulpit and the RV make it hypothetical (“Thou shouldest call”); Barnes an imperative of the lawcourt; Benson and Gill a future call to the dead. The mood is an interpretive decision.

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Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871

Rather, "Yea, thou wilt number my steps, and wilt not (as now) jealously watch over my sin." Thenceforward, instead of severe watching for every sin of Job, God will guard him against every sin.

JFB's reading (continued hope) and Pulpit's (present complaint) divide on whether v. 16 belongs with vv. 13 to 15 or with vv. 18 to 22.

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The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s

Job, at this point, proceeds to contrast his actual condition with the ideal one which (in vers. 13-15) his imagination has conjured up. God's actual attitude towards him he regards as one, not of protecting love, but of jealous hostility. His "steps" are observed, counted - every divergence from the right path is noted - a false step, if he makes one, is at once punished.

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John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

Job was in a pretty good frame of mind a little before, having in view his last change, and the glorious resurrection; but on a sudden he returns to his former complaints of God, and here of the rigour and strictness of his justice in marking his steps, and correcting him for his sin; so very uncertain are the best of frames

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For then You would count my steps, but would not keep track of my sin.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

kî- ‘at·tāh tis·pō·wr ṣə·‘ā·ḏay lō- ṯiš·mō·wr ‘al- ḥaṭ·ṭā·ṯî

Word by word8 · parsed

כִּֽי־kî-ForH3588

√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction

עַ֭תָּה‘at·tāhthenH6258

√ ʻattâh — at this time, whether adverb, conjunction or expletiveAdverb

‘attāh: now The hinge between the dream of vv. 13 to 15 and the reality of vv. 16 to 22, or (JFB) a continuation of the dream.

תִּסְפּ֑וֹרtis·pō·wrYou would countH5608

√ çâphar — properly, to score with a mark as a tally or record, iVerbQalImperfectsecond person masculine singular

sāp̄ar: to count, number, recount Cognate with mispār of v. 5. Job 31:4 (“does He not count all my steps?”) uses the same verb and noun. Counting can be the care of a guardian (JFB: so that they may not wander) or the audit of a prosecutor (Gill, Barnes).

צְעָדַ֣יṣə·‘ā·ḏaymy stepsH6806

√ tsaʻad — a pace or regular stepNounmasculine plural constructfirst person common singular

ṣa‘aḏ: step, pace Ps 37:23, “the steps of a man are established by the LORD,” shows the gracious sense JFB prefers.

לֹֽא־lō-but would notH3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle

תִ֝שְׁמ֗וֹרṯiš·mō·wrkeep trackH8104

√ shâmar — properly, to hedge about (as with thorns), iVerbQalImperfectsecond person masculine singular

šāmar: to keep, guard, watch The covenant verb of keeping (Num 6:24, “the LORD bless you and keep you”). Turned on sin it becomes surveillance; Ps 130:3 asks, “If You, LORD, kept watch over iniquities, who could stand?” (with the same verb).

עַל־‘al-ofH5921

√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition

חַטָּאתִֽי׃ḥaṭ·ṭā·ṯîmy sinH2403

√ chaṭṭâʼâh — an offence (sometimes habitual sinfulness), and its penalty, occasion, sacrifice, or expiationNounfeminine singular constructfirst person common singular

ḥaṭṭā’ṯ: sin, sin-offering Poole notes the word covers both sin and its penalty, which yields his alternate sense “Thou dost not delay the punishment of my sin.”

Literal — word-for-word from the original

For now my-steps You-count; You-do-not keep-watch over my-sin.

Where the English smooths the original

כִּֽי־ עַ֭תָּה כִּי־עַתָּה (kî-‘attāh): “for now” or “but now.” BSB “For then” makes the verse continue the hopeful vision (God would count steps to guard them); Pulpit, Poole and Benson read “but now,” a return to present complaint. K&D: Job contrasts the cheering prospect with the present.
לֹֽא־ תִ֝שְׁמ֗וֹר לֹא תִשְׁמוֹר (lō’ ṯišmôr): “You do not / would not watch.” KJV turns it into a question (“dost thou not watch over my sin?”); BSB a negated hope (“would not keep track”); Benson after the Chaldee and Vulgate a plea (“do not watch”). There is no interrogative particle in the Hebrew.

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Albert BarnesNotes on the Bible1834

It was common with the ancients to use a seal where we use a lock. Money was counted and put into a bag, and a seal was attached to it. Hence, a seal might be put to a bag, as a sort of certificate of the amount

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

the figure is, however, taken not from the mode of preserving important documents, but from the mode of preserving collected articles of value in a sealed bag.

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Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871

Is shut up in eternal oblivion, that is, God thenceforth will think no more of my former sins. To cover sins is to completely forgive them

JFB's forgiving reading is a minority view among these voices; the rare verb ṭāp̄al elsewhere describes smearing lies, which tells against it.

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My transgression would be sealed in a bag, and You would cover over my iniquity.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

piš·‘î ḥā·ṯum biṣ·rō·wr wat·tiṭ·pōl ‘al- ‘ă·wō·nî

Word by word6 · parsed

פִּשְׁעִ֑יpiš·‘îMy transgressionH6588

√ peshaʻ — a revolt (national, moral or religious)Nounmasculine singular constructfirst person common singular

peša‘: rebellion, transgression The strongest of Israel's three sin-words: revolt against an overlord. Ps 32:1 pairs it with covering: “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.”

חָתֻ֣םḥā·ṯumwould be sealedH2856

√ châtham — to close upVerbQalQalPassParticiplemasculine singular

ḥāṯam: to seal, close up Deut 32:34 (“sealed up among My treasures”) and Hos 13:12 (“Ephraim's iniquity is bound up”) are the closest parallels, cited by K&D and Pulpit, both of guilt stored for judgment. Dan 9:24 uses sealing for the ending of sin.

בִּצְר֣וֹרbiṣ·rō·wrin a bagH6872

√ tsᵉrôwr — a parcel (as packed up)Preposition-bNounmasculine singular

ṣᵉrôr: bundle, bag Barnes: sealed purses in the East circulated without recounting; Job's sins are a tallied sum.

וַ֝תִּטְפֹּ֗לwat·tiṭ·pōland You would coverH2950

√ ṭâphal — properly, to stick on as apatchConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectsecond person masculine singular

ṭāp̄al: to smear, plaster, patch on Verifier: 3 verses (Job 13:4; 14:17; Ps 119:69), the other two of lies smeared on the innocent. K&D: “to sew on, patch on… to add.” The darker reading thus has strong lexical support, though JFB's “cover” is possible.

עַל־‘al-overH5921

√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition

עֲוֺנִֽי׃‘ă·wō·nîmy iniquityH5771

√ ʻâvôn — perversity, iNouncommon singular constructfirst person common singular

‘āwōn: iniquity, guilt The crookedness and its accumulated guilt; the bundle holds the weight.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

Sealed in-a-bundle is my-transgression, and-You-plaster-over my-iniquity.

Where the English smooths the original

חָתֻ֣ם חָתֻם (ḥāṯum, Qal passive participle of ḥāṯam): “sealed.” Ambiguous in itself: sealed up for later judgment (Barnes, K&D, Pulpit, Gill) or sealed away out of sight (JFB). Dan 9:24 uses the root for the Messiah's work “to seal up sins” (Ketiv), which Gill cites.
וַ֝תִּטְפֹּ֗ל וַתִּטְפֹּל (wattiṭpōl, ṭāp̄al): “and You plaster, smear on, patch onto.” BSB “cover over” follows JFB's forgiving sense; KJV “sewest up”; K&D “devised additions to” (as 13:4, “plasterers of lies”). A rare verb (Verifier: 3 verses) whose other uses are negative.
בִּצְר֣וֹר בִּצְרוֹר (biṣrôr): “in a bundle, pouch.” The word of the “bundle of the living” (1 Sam 25:29) and of money pouches (Gen 42:35). Barnes and K&D both develop the money-bag image.

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

Under this severe treatment man must perish. For even the greatest and the firmest things in nature, and those most capable of resistance, are worn down by the influence of constant forces

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Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871

Here Job falls back into his gloomy bodings as to the grave. Instead of "and surely," translate "yet"; marking the transition from his brighter hopes.

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Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685

And as before he declared the hopelessness of man’s restoration from death to this animal life, by way of opposition to such things as did rise in a manner from death to life, Job 14:7 , &c.; so now he declares it by way of similitude or resemblance to such things, as being once lost and gone are past all hopes of recovery.

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But as a mountain erodes and crumbles and a rock is dislodged from its place,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wə·’ū·lām har- nō·w·p̄êl yib·bō·wl wə·ṣūr ye‘·taq mim·mə·qō·mōw

Word by word7 · parsed

וְ֭אוּלָםwə·’ū·lāmButH199

√ ʼûwlâm — however or on the contraryConjunction

הַר־har-as a mountainH2022

√ har — a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figuratively)Nounmasculine singular

har: mountain The most permanent thing in view; Cambridge: even the firmest things are worn down.

נוֹפֵ֣לnō·w·p̄êlerodesH5307

√ nâphal — to fall, in a great variety of applications (intransitive or causative, literal or figurative)VerbQalParticiplemasculine singular

nāp̄al: to fall Participle: a mountain in the act of falling.

יִבּ֑וֹלyib·bō·wland crumblesH5034

√ nâbêl — to wiltVerbQalImperfectthird person masculine singular

nāḇēl: to wilt, fade Usually of leaves and flowers (Ps 1:3; Isa 40:7 to 8). Applied to a mountain it is startling: the permanent withers like the transient.

וְ֝צ֗וּרwə·ṣūrand a rockH6697

√ tsûwr — properly, a cliff (or sharp rock, as compressed)Conjunctive wawNounmasculine singular

ṣûr: rock, cliff Often a name of God (Deut 32:4, “the Rock, His work is perfect”). Here even rock moves.

יֶעְתַּ֥קye‘·taqis dislodgedH6275

√ ʻâthaq — to remove (intransitive or transitive) figuratively, to grow oldVerbQalImperfectthird person masculine singular

‘āṯaq: to move, remove Verifier: 9 verses. Bildad repeats the exact phrase at 18:4 (“shall the rock be moved from its place?”).

מִמְּקֹמֽוֹ׃mim·mə·qō·mōwfrom its placeH4725

√ mâqôwm — properly, a standing, iPreposition-mNounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular

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Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871

There is a gradation from "mountains" to "rocks" (Job 14:18), then "stones," then last "dust of the earth"; thus the solid mountain at last disappears utterly.

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

of man which God destroys is not the specific hope of a renewed life ( Job 14:7 )—this idea is dismissed—but more general, the hope of life.

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John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

not the hope of a good man about his eternal state, and of enjoying eternal happiness; which is the gift of God's grace, which is without repentance, never revoked, called in, or taken away or destroyed; it is built upon the promise of God, who cannot lie; it is founded on the person, blood, and righteousness of Christ; and though it may be brought low, it is never lost

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Albert BarnesNotes on the Bible1834

In our trials let us imitate his patience, but not his despondency

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as water wears away the stones and torrents wash away the soil, so You destroy a man’s hope.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ma·yim šā·ḥă·qū ’ă·ḇā·nîm sə·p̄î·ḥe·hā tiš·ṭōp̄- ‘ă·p̄ar- ’ā·reṣ he·’ĕ·ḇaḏ·tā ’ĕ·nō·wōš wə·ṯiq·waṯ

Word by word10 · parsed

מַ֗יִםma·yimas waterH4325

√ mayim — waterNounmasculine plural

שָׁ֥חֲקוּšā·ḥă·qūwears awayH7833

√ shâchaq — to comminate (by trituration or attrition)VerbQalPerfectthird person common plural

šāḥaq: to grind, pulverize Verifier: 4 verses, including Ps 18:42 / 2 Sam 22:43 (“I beat them fine as the dust”) and Exod 30:36 (incense beaten small). Water does slowly to stone what God's hand does to man.

אֲבָנִ֤ים׀’ă·ḇā·nîmthe stonesH68

√ ʼeben — a stoneNounfeminine plural

סְפִיחֶ֥יהָsə·p̄î·ḥe·hāand torrentsH5599

√ çâphîyach — something (spontaneously) falling off, iNounmasculine plural constructthird person feminine singular

sāp̄îaḥ: aftergrowth; outpouring A disputed sense; see divergence.

תִּשְׁטֹֽף־tiš·ṭōp̄-wash awayH7857

√ shâṭaph — to gushVerbQalImperfectthird person feminine singular

šāṭap̄: to gush, wash away, overflow The flood that sweeps away (Ps 90:5, “You sweep them away,” cited by Gill for this verse's sense).

עֲפַר־‘ă·p̄ar-the soilH6083

√ ʻâphâr — dust (as powdered or gray)Nounmasculine singular construct

‘āp̄ār: dust Returns from v. 8: the dust in which the stump revived is now carried off.

אָ֑רֶץ’ā·reṣ. . .H776

√ ʼerets — the earth (at large, or partitively a land)Nounfeminine singular

הֶאֱבַֽדְתָּ׃he·’ĕ·ḇaḏ·tāso You destroyH6

√ ʼâbad — properly, to wander away, iVerbHifilPerfectsecond person masculine singular

’āḇaḏ: to perish (Hiphil, destroy) God is named as the agent; Job's lament is addressed, not abstract.

אֱנ֣וֹשׁ’ĕ·nō·wōša man’sH582

√ ʼĕnôwsh — a man in general (singly or collectively)Nounmasculine singular

’ĕnôš: mortal man “What is man (’ĕnôš) that You are mindful of him?” (Ps 8:4); Job asked a darker form of that question at 7:17.

וְתִקְוַ֖תwə·ṯiq·waṯhopeH8615

√ tiqvâh — literally a cord (as an attachment)Conjunctive wawNounfeminine singular construct

tiqwāh: hope The inclusio with v. 7: the tree has tiqwāh, man's tiqwāh God destroys. Cambridge: the hope in view is the general hope of life, not the specific hope of renewal just dismissed.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

Stones the-waters grind-away; its-outpourings sweep-off the-dust of-the-earth; and-the-hope of-mortal-man You-have-destroyed.

Where the English smooths the original

סְפִיחֶ֥יהָ סְפִיחֶיהָ (sᵉp̄îḥeyhā, sāp̄îaḥ): elsewhere “what grows of itself, aftergrowth” (Lev 25:5; 2 Kgs 19:29), hence KJV “the things which grow out.” Barnes, Cambridge, Pulpit, Gill (after Schultens and Aben Ezra) take it here as “its outpourings, floods.” BSB “torrents” follows the second view without signaling the choice.
הֶאֱבַֽדְתָּ הֶאֱבַדְתָּ (he’ĕḇaḏtā, Hiphil perfect of ’āḇaḏ): “You have destroyed, caused to perish.” BSB “You destroy” is fine in sense, but the subject is emphatic and personal: the erosion of nature is God's act toward man.
אֱנ֣וֹשׁ אֱנוֹשׁ (’ĕnôš): “mortal man, frail man.” The chapter's fourth word for man (after ’āḏām, geber, ’îš). BSB “a man's” cannot show that the word itself connotes frailty (Ps 8:4; 103:15).

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

God gives him the death-stroke which puts an end to his life for ever, he passes away βαίνει, οἴχεται (comp. Job 10:21 ); disfiguring his countenance, i.e., in the struggle of death and in death by the gradual working of decay, distorting and making him unlike himself, He thrusts him out of this life

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The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s

thou puttest forth thy power against him perpetually ; i.e. thou art continually oppressing him

Pulpit and K&D explicitly disagree on lāneṣaḥ: continual oppression in life versus the single final stroke.

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

A graphic and pathetic description of death. The word “prevailest against,” i. e. overpowerest him, refers to the last conflict and the final stroke

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You forever overpower him, and he passes on; You change his countenance and send him away.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

lā·ne·ṣaḥ tiṯ·qə·p̄ê·hū way·ya·hă·lōḵ mə·šan·neh p̄ā·nāw wat·tə·šal·lə·ḥê·hū

Word by word6 · parsed

לָ֭נֶצַחlā·ne·ṣaḥYou foreverH5331

√ netsach — properly, a goal, iPreposition-lNounmasculine singular

neṣaḥ: perpetuity, utmost K&D cites Job 4:20; 20:7 for the sense “for ever.”

תִּתְקְפֵ֣הוּtiṯ·qə·p̄ê·hūoverpower himH8630

√ tâqaph — to overpowerVerbQalImperfectsecond person masculine singularthird person masculine singular

tāqap̄: to overpower, seize K&D: transitive, to seize forcibly (Job 15:24; Eccl 4:12). Cambridge: the last conflict and the final stroke.

וַֽיַּהֲלֹ֑ךְway·ya·hă·lōḵand he passes onH1980

√ hâlak — to walk (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

hālaḵ: to go, walk “And he goes”: Benson and Poole note death called a going, not annihilation.

מְשַׁנֶּ֥הmə·šan·nehYou changeH8138

√ shânâh — to fold, iVerbPielParticiplemasculine singular

šānāh: to change, alter (Piel) Used of Belshazzar's face changing in terror (Dan 5:9; JFB, Gill). Here God changes it in death.

פָ֝נָ֗יוp̄ā·nāwhis countenanceH6440

√ pânîym — the face (as the part that turns)Nouncommon plural constructthird person masculine singular

וַֽתְּשַׁלְּחֵֽהוּ׃wat·tə·šal·lə·ḥê·hūand send him awayH7971

√ shâlach — to send away, for, or out (in a great variety of applications)Conjunctive wawVerbPielConsecutive imperfectsecond person masculine singularthird person masculine singular

šālaḥ: to send away (Piel) The verb of Gen 3:23: Adam sent from the garden. Every death repeats the first expulsion (K&D's cross-reference; the theological inference is ours).

Literal — word-for-word from the original

You-overpower-him forever, and-he-goes; changing his-face, You-send-him-away.

Where the English smooths the original

לָ֭נֶצַח לָנֶצַח (lāneṣaḥ): “forever, utterly.” K&D insists it means “for ever” throughout Job: God gives the single death-stroke. Pulpit reads “perpetually,” a continuous oppression through life. BSB “forever” follows K&D.
מְשַׁנֶּ֥ה פָ֝נָ֗יו מְשַׁנֶּה פָנָיו (mᵉšanneh p̄ānāyw): “changing his face,” Piel participle. The disfiguring of the face in dying and decay (K&D, Cambridge, Benson). BSB “countenance” is accurate; the participle presents it as God's ongoing action.
וַֽתְּשַׁלְּחֵֽהוּ וַתְּשַׁלְּחֵהוּ (wattᵉšallᵉḥēhû, Piel of šālaḥ): “and You send him away, dismiss him.” K&D compares Gen 3:23, where the LORD God “sent him out” of Eden with the same verb. BSB “send him away” is correct; the Edenic echo is lost in English.

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

The dead know not anything … also their love … is now perished,” Ecclesiastes 9:5-6

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The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s

The view is more dismal than that of Aristotle, who argues that the fate of those whom they have loved and left on earth will be sure to penetrate, in course of time ( ἐπὶ τινα χρόνον )' to the departed, and cause them a certain amount of joy or sorrow

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Joseph BensonCommentary on the Old and New Testaments1810s

The consideration of this should moderate our cares concerning our children and families. God will know what becomes of them or happens to them, when we are gone. To him, therefore, let us commit them: with him let us leave them; and not burden ourselves with needless, fruitless cares concerning them.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

When he is descended into Hades he knows nothing more of the fortune of his children, for as Ecclesiastes 9:6 says: the dead have absolutely no portion in anything that happens under the sun.

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If his sons receive honor, he does not know it; if they are brought low, he is unaware.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ḇā·nāw yiḵ·bə·ḏū wə·lō yê·ḏā‘ wə·yiṣ·‘ă·rū wə·lō- yā·ḇîn lā·mōw

Word by word8 · parsed

בָ֭נָיוḇā·nāwIf his sonsH1121

√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine plural constructthird person masculine singular

bēn: son K&D: Job speaks of mankind generally, not of his own dead children; yet the reader cannot forget 1:18 to 19.

יִכְבְּד֣וּyiḵ·bə·ḏūreceive honorH3513

√ kâbad — to be heavy, iVerbQalImperfectthird person masculine plural

kāḇaḏ: to be heavy, honored The root of kāḇôḏ, glory.

וְלֹ֣אwə·lōhe does notH3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absConjunctive wawAdverbNegative particle

יֵדָ֑עyê·ḏā‘know itH3045

√ yâdaʻ — to know (properly, to ascertain by seeing)VerbQalImperfectthird person masculine singular

yāḏa‘: to know Eccl 9:5, “the dead know nothing” (Cambridge, JFB). Contrast Isa 63:16, “Abraham does not know us… You, O LORD, are our Father” (cited by Gill): what the dead father cannot know, God knows.

וְ֝יִצְעֲר֗וּwə·yiṣ·‘ă·rūif they are brought lowH6819

√ tsâʻar — to be small, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive imperfectthird person masculine plural

ṣā‘ar: to be small, brought low Verifier: 3 verses; Jer 30:19 reverses it (“they shall not be small”).

וְֽלֹא־wə·lō-he is unawareH3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absConjunctive wawAdverbNegative particle

יָבִ֥יןyā·ḇîn. . .H995

√ bîyn — to separate mentally (or distinguish), iVerbQalImperfectthird person masculine singular

bîn: to discern, perceive With lāmô: he does not attend to them (K&D, cf. Ps 73:17).

לָֽמוֹ׃lā·mōw

Prepositionthird person masculine plural

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

Nothing but pain and sadness is the existence of the dead; and the pain of his own flesh, the sadness of his own soul, alone engage him. He has therefore no room for rejoicing, nor does the joyous or sorrowful estate of others, though his nearest ones, affect him

K&D is quoting Hofmann's Schriftbeweis here.

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Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871

Scripture rests the hope of a future life, not on the inherent immortality of the soul, but on the restoration of the body with the soul.

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

There are two ideas expressed: (1) that the body in the grave, being that of a still existing person, feels the gnawing and the wasting of corruption, cf. Isaiah 66:24 , and that the soul in Sheol leads a mournful and dreary existence; and (2) that these elements of the person though separated still belong to the person.

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Matthew HenryConcise Commentary on the Whole Bible1706

Dying work is hard work; dying pangs often are sore pangs. It is folly for men to defer repentance to a death-bed, and to have that to do which is the one thing needful, when unfit to do anything.

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He feels only the pain of his own body and mourns only for himself.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

’aḵ- yiḵ·’āḇ bə·śā·rōw te·’ĕ·ḇāl ‘ā·lāw wə·nap̄·šōw ‘ā·lāw

Word by word7 · parsed

אַךְ־’aḵ-He feels onlyH389

√ ʼak — a particle of affirmation, surelyAdverb

’aḵ: surely, only Restrictive: nothing else reaches him.

יִכְאָ֑בyiḵ·’āḇthe painH3510

√ kâʼab — properly, to feel painVerbQalImperfectthird person masculine singular

kā’aḇ: to feel pain Barnes: pain is attributed to the dead body by imagination; Gill (after Aben Ezra and the Targum) thinks of decay and the worm (cf. Isa 66:24, Cambridge).

בְּ֭שָׂרוֹbə·śā·rōwof his own bodyH1320

√ bâsâr — flesh (from its freshness)Nounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular

bāśār: flesh With nep̄eš the whole person (JFB). The chapter ends where it began, with woman-born flesh.

תֶּאֱבָֽל׃פte·’ĕ·ḇāland mournsH56

√ ʼâbal — to bewailVerbQalImperfectthird person feminine singular

’āḇal: to mourn Funeral mourning. The man mourns for himself because no one else's fate can reach him.

עָלָ֣יו‘ā·lāwonly forH5921

√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPrepositionthird person masculine singular

וְ֝נַפְשׁ֗וֹwə·nap̄·šōwhimselfH5315

√ nephesh — properly, a breathing creature, iConjunctive wawNounfeminine singular constructthird person masculine singular

nep̄eš: soul, living being Not a disembodied immortal soul in Greek terms, but the self; JFB stresses that Scripture rests future hope on the restoration of body with soul.

עָלָ֥יו‘ā·lāw. . .H5921

√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPrepositionthird person masculine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

Only his-flesh upon-him aches, and-his-soul upon-him mourns.

Where the English smooths the original

אַךְ־ אַךְ (’aḵ): “only.” KJV “But”; Cambridge and Pulpit: “Only.” BSB folds it into “He feels only.” The restrictive particle governs both lines: the dead man's world shrinks to himself.
עָלָ֣יו עָלָיו (‘ālāyw, twice): “upon him / over him / on his account.” K&D renders “on his own account”; KJV “upon him… within him.” Cambridge: the same preposition both times, meaning “in connexion with him.” BSB “his own body… for himself” interprets the second as reflexive.
תֶּאֱבָֽל תֶּאֱבָל (te’ĕḇāl, ’āḇal): “she mourns,” feminine, agreeing with nep̄eš. The mourning verb of funeral grief (Gen 37:34). BSB “mourns” is exact.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. Woman-born and on trial — Job 14:1 to 6

Job turns from his own wasting (13:28) to the lot of every אָדָם, “short of days and sated with turmoil.” Ellicott and Cambridge mark the move from the particular to the race; Benson names its purpose: man's frailty is offered as a reason for God's compassion rather than His severity. The pivot is v. 3, where the grammar breaks from “such a one” to “and me” (וְאֹתִי): K&D keeps it, “Thou drawest me before Thy tribunal,” and Barnes hears the lawcourt. Verse 4 (מִי־יִתֵּן, “O that!”) is a wish answered by “not one”: Henry, JFB and Barnes see here the doctrine of original sin, while Pulpit dissents and reads only the impurity of birth. Because God has fixed man's חֹק (v. 5), Job asks Him to “gaze away” (v. 6) and let the hireling have his day; K&D, quoting Hahn, insists this is a plea for ordinary toil without extraordinary affliction.

ii. The tree has hope; man has none — Job 14:7 to 12

The felled tree has תִּקְוָה; at the mere “scent of water” its stump (גֶּזַע, a word found elsewhere only in Isa 11:1 and 40:24) sends up a nursling shoot. K&D notes that Isaiah uses the same fact as a law of Israel's history, the holy seed in the stump. But the גֶּבֶר, the strong man, dies and is laid prostrate, and Adam breathes his last: “and where is he?” Pulpit calls the question an acknowledgment of profound ignorance; Geneva insists Job speaks from pain, not denial of immortality. Verse 12 says man will not awake “until the heavens are no more.” Cambridge, K&D and Barnes read this as “never”; Benson, Poole and JFB hear in it the end of the age and the resurrection, and Pulpit (citing Canon Cook) calls the coincidence with the New Testament striking though unintended.

iii. The great wish: hidden in Sheol, then remembered — Job 14:13 to 17

The despair breaks open into longing. “O that You would treasure me away in Sheol” (תַּצְפִּנֵנִי), conceal me until Your anger turns, set me a חֹק, “and remember me.” Cambridge gives the fullest account: Job cannot, like the psalmists, trust that communion will survive death, because he has lost the sense of God's favour; so he imagines Sheol as a waiting-room until wrath is past. Verse 14 asks the question outright, and the answers diverge sharply: K&D says Job's own answer is “No”; Barnes and Pulpit read the question as negation; Geneva, Benson and Gill read it as resurrection hope, and Maclaren hears a doubt “which palsies hope” that waited centuries for an answer. The “change” (חֲלִיפָה) is the relief of a sentry (JFB, after Umbreit and Gesenius) or the renewal of the tree (Gesenius elsewhere, Pulpit). Then God would call and Job answer, and God would “long” (כָּסַף, to grow pale with yearning) for the work of His hands (K&D, Pulpit). Verses 16 to 17 are contested: Pulpit and Barnes read present complaint; JFB reads continuing hope, sins “sealed” and “covered” as forgiven.

iv. Mountains fall, water grinds, hope is destroyed — Job 14:18 to 22

“But yet” (וְאוּלָם, JFB: marking the transition from brighter hopes) the falling mountain crumbles, the rock is dislodged, water grinds stones, and floods carry off the dust: “so You destroy the hope of man.” JFB traces the gradation from mountain to rock to stone to dust; Cambridge: if the firmest things are worn down by constant forces, how much more man. The word תִּקְוָה closes the circle opened at v. 7. God overpowers man לָנֶצַח, “forever” (K&D) or “perpetually” (Pulpit), changes his face, and sends him away, the verb K&D compares with Adam's expulsion from Eden (Gen 3:23). The dead man does not know whether his sons rise or fall (Cambridge cites Eccl 9:5 to 6); he feels only his own flesh's pain and his own soul's mourning. JFB adds that Scripture rests the hope of life beyond death not on the soul's native immortality but on the body's restoration.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ Read by Scripture alone, Job 14 is not a creed but a cry, and it is canonized as a cry. Its theology is true in what it confesses (man is woman-born, brief, unclean from the root, under a fixed decree, unable to rise by any power in himself) and honest in what it cannot yet see. The text sets two figures side by side: the stump that has hope because life remains in its root, and man, who has no such root in himself. The rest of the canon does not deny the comparison; it answers it by supplying a root that is not in man. Isaiah's shoot from the stump of Jesse (11:1, the only other place the stump-word geza‘ carries hope) and Daniel's sleepers in the dust who “shall awake” (12:2, the same verb Job uses for “they will not awake”) take up Job's own vocabulary and reverse it. Job's wish in vv. 13 to 15, to be hidden until wrath passes, to be given a set time, to be called and to answer, and to be longed for as the work of God's hands, is a remarkably exact outline of what the gospel later announces in the resurrection of the Son and of those who are His. This reading is offered to be tested: it does not claim that Job knew all this, only that the God who inspired his longing did not leave it unanswered.

The tree has hope because its life is in its root; man has hope only if his life is hidden with Another.

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The stump with a future: geza‘ in Job and Isaiah verbal / quotation: confirmed

The word גֶּזַע (“stump, stock,” v. 8) occurs in only three verses. In Isa 11:1 a shoot comes forth from the geza‘ of Jesse and a branch from his roots (šōreš, also shared); in Isa 40:24 the princes' geza‘ has scarcely taken root when God blows on it and it withers. Job's tree, whose root ages and whose stump dies in the dust yet revives at the scent of water, stands between hope and judgment. Pulpit cites Isa 11:1 directly at v. 7, and K&D says Isaiah uses this very fact as an emblem of the holy remnant. The Verifier confirms the rare shared lexeme; whether Isaiah consciously echoes Job is not claimed.

Isaiah 11:1 · Isaiah 40:24

basis: Verifier: shared rare Hebrew lexeme H1503 gezaʻ (in 3 vv) in both; plus H8328 sheresh (in 32 vv) with Isaiah 11:1; H637 ʼaph (123 vv) and H3001 yâbêsh (53 vv) with Isaiah 40:24. A real verbal link; no claim of literary dependence.

“They will not awake”: Job's denial and Daniel's promise structural / thematic: confirmed

Job says the dead “will not awake” (יָקִיצוּ, Hiphil of qûṣ) until the heavens are no more. Daniel 12:2 uses the identical form: many who sleep in the dust of the earth “shall awake,” some to everlasting life. The same picture of death as sleep in the dust, and the same verb, are turned from negation to promise. Pulpit notes that the sleep image itself carries “the glimmer of a hope”; JFB and Poole connect “till the heavens be no more” to the end of the present order. The Verifier records one shared lexeme of moderate frequency, so the tier is structural, not a claim that Daniel quotes Job.

Daniel 12:2 · Isaiah 26:19

basis: Verifier pair Job 14:12 / Daniel 12:2: shared Hebrew lexeme H6974 qûwts (in 21 vv), same Hiphil form; shared motif of death as sleep. Isaiah 26:19 (awake, dwellers in dust) is a thematic companion, not Verifier-computed.

“The rock removed from its place”: Bildad turns Job's image back verbal / quotation: confirmed

Job laments that a rock is moved (יֶעְתַּק) from its place (v. 18). In the very next round Bildad retorts, “Shall the earth be forsaken for your sake, or the rock be moved from its place?” (18:4), using the same verb, noun and phrase. Bildad also takes up Job's tree: “his roots dry up beneath” (18:16, which shares nāmal and šōreš with this chapter). The friends are listening closely and quoting Job against himself.

Job 18:4 · Job 18:16

basis: Verifier pair Job 14:18 / Job 18:4: shared lexemes H6275 ʻâthaq (in 9 vv), H6697 tsûwr (73 vv), H4725 mâqôwm (379 vv), the same three-word phrase. Job 18:16 shares H5243 nâmal (in 4 vv), H8328 sheresh (32 vv) and H7105 qâtsîyr (49 vv) with this unit.

“A river dries up and is dry”: Job 14:11 and Isaiah 19:5 verbal / quotation: confirmed

The second line of v. 11, וְנָהָר יֶחֱרַב וְיָבֵשׁ, reappears word for word in Isaiah's oracle against Egypt (19:5), where the Nile fails under judgment. K&D observes that Isaiah's Egypt oracle interweaves “many passages borrowed from the book of Job.” Barnes and JFB cite Isa 19:5 for the sense of yām as a great river. Direction of borrowing is K&D's judgment, not established here.

Isaiah 19:5

basis: Verifier pair Job 14:11 / Isaiah 19:5: shared lexemes H2717 chârab (in 36 vv), H3001 yâbêsh (53 vv), H5104 nâhâr (108 vv), H3220 yâm (339 vv) in the same clause order. Which text borrows from which is not settled by the lexical data.

Plastered-on iniquity: ṭāp̄al verbal / quotation: confirmed

“You plaster over / patch onto my iniquity” (וַתִּטְפֹּל, v. 17) uses a verb found in only three verses. At 13:4 Job calls his friends “plasterers of lies,” and at Ps 119:69 “the arrogant have smeared me with lies.” K&D therefore reads v. 17 as God “devising additions” to Job's guilt; Barnes, Pulpit and others read “sew up” (keep securely); JFB reads “cover,” that is, forgive. The rare lexeme sharpens the darker reading: Job fears God is doing to him what the friends do, attaching what is not his.

Job 13:4 · Psalm 119:69

basis: Verifier: shared rare Hebrew lexeme H2950 ṭâphal (in 3 vv) in all three verses; Job 13:4 also shares H199 ʼûwlâm (in 19 vv).

The sons honoured or brought low: Jeremiah 30:19 reverses it verbal / quotation: confirmed

Job's dead father cannot know whether his sons are “made heavy” with honour (kāḇaḏ) or “made small” (צָעַר, v. 21). K&D points to Jer 30:19, where the same pair appears in a promise of restoration: “I will multiply them… I will honour them, and they shall not be made small.” What death hides from the father, the God of the covenant pledges for the children. The rare verb makes the link verbal; the reversal is thematic.

Jeremiah 30:19 · Ecclesiastes 9:5

basis: Verifier: Jeremiah 30:19 shares rare H6819 tsâʻar (in 3 vv) and H3513 kâbad (in 106 vv). Ecclesiastes 9:5 is cited by Cambridge and JFB as a thematic parallel only, not Verifier-computed.

Hidden until the indignation passes structural / thematic: confirmed

Job's wish to be concealed in Sheol “until Your anger turns” (v. 13) has a close thematic counterpart in Isa 26:20: “hide yourselves for a little while until the wrath has passed by,” immediately after the promise that the dead shall live and the dwellers in dust awake (26:19). K&D also cites Ps 27:5 and 31:20 for God hiding His own; JFB and Gill cite Isa 26. The verbs differ, so no verbal claim is made.

Isaiah 26:20 · Psalm 27:5

basis: Commentator-cited (K&D, JFB, Gill); not Verifier-computed. Shared motif of being hidden by God until wrath passes; the Hebrew verbs differ (ṣāp̄an/sāṯar in Job; ḥāḇāh in Isaiah 26:20).

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

“If a man dies, shall he live again?”: the question and the Answer ancient/widely-held

⚙ Job asks the question that this chapter cannot answer (v. 14). Maclaren sets it beside John 11:25 to 26, “I am the resurrection and the life,” and says the answer “is the resurrection of Christ. Apart from this answer there is none.” Geneva reads Job's “change” as the day of resurrection when he would be “changed and renewed,” words Paul uses in 1 Cor 15:51 to 52, “we shall all be changed.” Benson and Gill read v. 15 (“You will call, and I will answer”) of the Lord's call to the dead, which John 5:28 places on Christ's lips. Hebrew and Greek here share no lexeme; this is a canonical, not a verbal, connection.

John 11:25-26 · 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 · John 5:28-29

The Clean from the unclean ancient/widely-held

⚙ Verse 4 says no one can bring a clean thing from an unclean. Gill answers that there was one instance only: the Lord Jesus born of the virgin, by the power of the Holy Spirit, so that His human nature escaped the common defilement (compare Luke 1:35, “the holy one to be born”; Heb 7:26, “holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners”). Benson adds that God alone can bring clean out of unclean, which Henry ties to the new birth of the Spirit. The doctrine of Christ's sinless conception is widely held; reading Job 14:4 as pointing to it is Gill's application.

Luke 1:35 · Hebrews 7:26 · John 3:6

A shoot from the dead stump novel

⚙ The only creature in the chapter with hope is the felled tree whose stump (geza‘) puts out a nursling shoot. Isaiah 11:1 uses the same rare word for the house of David cut down to a stump, from which the Messianic shoot springs, and Isa 53:2 pictures the Servant growing up “like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground.” Job's tree thus becomes, in the canon's later light, a figure of the One who rose from death as the firstfruits (1 Cor 15:20). Note honestly: the Isaiah 53:2 word for “tender shoot” is a different Strong's entry from Job's yôneqeṯ (the Verifier finds no shared lexeme beyond a negative particle), and no commentator in this brief makes the Christological link at Job 14:7 to 9. This is the tool's own figural reading.

Isaiah 11:1 · Isaiah 53:2 · 1 Corinthians 15:20

Sins sealed and covered ancient/widely-held

⚙ Job fears that God has sealed his transgressions in a bag to bring them out later (v. 17). JFB reads the same words as forgiveness, sins “shut up in eternal oblivion” and covered (Ps 32:1). Gill notes that Daniel 9:24 uses the language of sealing for the Messiah's work “to make an end of sin,” by which sin is removed from the sight of justice. The tension in v. 17 between sealed for judgment and sealed away for good is resolved, in the New Testament, at the cross, where the record of debt is cancelled (Col 2:14).

Daniel 9:24 · Psalm 32:1 · Colossians 2:14

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (c. 1905)
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
Keil & Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1860s)
Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

Text: BSB English with the Berean interlinear and Strong's. Three places where the Hebrew is genuinely uncertain are flagged rather than resolved: v. 2 wayyimmāl (“cut down” per K&D and the Targum, “withers” per Cambridge and BSB); v. 6 yirṣeh (“enjoy” or “pay off / complete”); v. 16b, which can be a question (“do You not watch over my sin?”, KJV, Pulpit), a negative statement (“You would not keep track of my sin,” BSB, JFB), or a plea (Benson after the Chaldee and Vulgate). v. 17 ṭāp̄al is read three ways (add to, sew up, cover). v. 5 ḥuqqō has a Qere plural (K&D). The interlinear word order at v. 3 places ’ap̄ and ‘al at the end; the literal above restores them to the opening phrase “even upon such a one.” Lexicon glosses in the brief are truncated (e.g. H120 “ruddy i”); notes rely on standard sense, not on the cut text. Frequency counts (“in N vv”) are cited only where the Verifier supplied them. Sources: the JFB entry at v. 1 appears to include appended material resembling Poole's summary; only text clearly in JFB's own note was cited. Henry's notes are section-level (vv. 1 to 6, 7 to 15, 16 to 22) and repeat across verses. Maclaren's v. 14 entry is capped; only its visible opening was used. The extra cross-references (Isaiah 19:5, Daniel 12:2, Job 18:4) were checked with the Verifier pair tool; Isaiah 26:20 and the Christological readings are not lexically computed and are marked accordingly.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)