8“Though its roots grow old in the ground
And its stump dies in the dry soil, 9At the scent of water it will flourish
And put forth sprigs like a plant. 10“But man dies and lies prostrate.
Man expires, and where is he? 11“As water evaporates from the sea,
And a river becomes parched and dried up, 12So man lies down and does not rise.
Until the heavens are no longer,
He will not awake nor be aroused out of his sleep. 13“Oh that You would hide me in Sheol,
That You would conceal me until Your wrath returns to You,
That You would set a limit for me and remember me! 14“If a man dies, will he live again?
All the days of my struggle I will wait
Until my change comes. 15“You will call, and I will answer You;
You will long for the work of Your hands. 16“For now You number my steps,
You do not observe my sin. 17“My transgression is sealed up in a bag,
And You wrap up my iniquity. 18“But the falling mountain crumbles away,
And the rock moves from its place; 19Water wears away stones,
Its torrents wash away the dust of the earth;
So You destroy man’s hope. 20“You forever overpower him and he departs;
You change his appearance and send him away. 21“His sons achieve honor, but he does not know it;
Or they become insignificant, but he does not perceive it. 22“But his body pains him,
And he mourns only for himself.”
New American Standard Bible (©1995)
"Though its roots grow old in the ground And its stump dies in the dry soil,GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
If its roots grow old in the ground and its stump dies in the soil, King James Bible
Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground; Douay-Rheims Bible
If its root be old in the earth, and its stock be dead in the dust: Darby Bible Translation
Though its root grow old in the earth, and its stock die in the ground, English Revised Version
Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground; Webster's Bible Translation
Though its root shall become old in the earth, and its stock die in the ground; World English Bible
Though its root grows old in the earth, and its stock dies in the ground, Young's Literal Translation
If its root becometh old in the earth, And its stem doth die in the dust,
Job 14:7 "For there is hope for a tree, When it is cut down, that it will sprout again, And its shoots will not fail.
Job 14:9 At the scent of water it will flourish And put forth sprigs like a plant.
Matthew Henry's Whole Bible Commentary Verses 7-15 We have seen what Job has to say concerning life; let us now see what he has to say concerning death, which his thoughts were very much conversant with, now that he was sick and sore. It is not unseasonable, when we are in health, to think of dying; but it is an inexcusable incogitancy if, when we are already taken into the custody of death's messengers, we look upon it as a thing at a distance. Job had already shown that death will come, and that its hour is already fixed. Now here he shows, I. That death is a removal for ever out of this world. This he had spoken of before (ch. 7:9, 10), and now he mentions it again; for, though it be a truth that needs not be proved, yet it needs to be much considered, that it may be duly improved. 1. A man cut down by death will not revive again, as a tree cut down will. What hope there is of a tree he shows very elegantly, v. 7-9. If the body of the tree be cut down, and only the stem or stump left in the ground, though it seem dead and dry, yet it will shoot out young boughs again, as if it were but newly planted. The moisture of the earth and the rain of heaven are, as it were, scented and perceived by the stump of a tree, and they have an influence upon it to revive it; but the dead body of a man would not perceive them, nor be in the least affected by them. In Nebuchadnezzar's dream, when his being deprived of the use of his reason was signified by the cutting down of a tree, his return to it again was signified by the leaving of the stump in the earth with a band of iron and brass to be wet with the dew of heaven, Dan. 4:15. But man has no such prospect of a return to life. The vegetable life is a cheap and easy thing: the scent of water will recover it. The animal life, in some insects and fowls, is so: the heat of the sun retrieves it. But the rational soul, when once retired, is too great, too noble, a thing to be recalled by any of the powers of nature; it is out of the reach of sun or rain, and cannot be restored but by the immediate operations of Omnipotence itself; for (v. 10) man dieth and wasteth, away, yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? Two words are here used for man:-Geber, a mighty man, though mighty, dies; Adam, a man of the earth, because earthy, gives up the ghost. Note, Man is a dying creature. He is here described by what occurs, (1.) Before death: he wastes away; he is continually wasting, dying daily, spending upon the quick stock of life. Sickness and old age are wasting things to the flesh, the strength, the beauty. (2.) In death: he gives up the ghost; the soul leaves the body, and returns to God who gave it, the Father of spirits. (3.) After death: Where is he? He is not where he was; his place knows him no more; but is he nowhere? So some read it. Yes, he is somewhere; and it is a very awful consideration to think where those are that have given up the ghost, and where we shall be when we give it up. It has gone to the world of spirits, gone into eternity, gone to return no more to this world. 2. A man laid down in the grave will not rise up again, v. 11, 12. Every night we lie down to sleep, and in the morning we awake and rise again; but at death we must lie down in the grave, not to awake or rise again to such a world, such a state, as we are now in, never to awake or arise until the heavens, the faithful measures of time, shall be no more, and consequently time itself shall come to an end and be swallowed up in eternity; so that the life of man may fitly be compared to the waters of a land-flood, which spread far and make a great show, but they are shallow, and when they are cut off from the sea or river, the swelling and overflowing of which was the cause of them, they soon decay and dry up, and their place knows them no more. The waters of life are soon exhaled and disappear. The body, like some of those waters, sinks and soaks into the earth, and is buried there; the soul, like others of them, is drawn upwards, to mingle with the waters above the firmament. The learned Sir Richard Blackmore makes this also to be a dissimilitude. If the waters decay and be dried up in the summer, yet they will return again in the winter; but it is not so with the life of man. Take part of his paraphrase in his own words:- A flowing river, or a standing lake, May their dry banks and naked shores forsake; Their waters may exhale and upward move, Their channel leave to roll in clouds above; But the returning water will restore What in the summer they had lost before: But if, O man! thy vital streams desert Their purple channels and defraud the heart, With fresh recruits they ne'er will be supplied, Nor feel their leaping life's returning tide. II. That yet there will be a return of man to life again in another world, at the end of time, when the heavens are no more. Then they shall awake and be raised out of their sleep. The resurrection of the dead was doubtless an article of Job's creed, as appears, ch. 19:26, and to that, it should seem, he has an eye here, where, in the belief of that, we have three things:- 1. A humble petition for a hiding-place in the grave, v. 13. It was not only a passionate weariness of this life that he wished to die, but in a pious assurance of a better life, to which at length he should arise. O that thou wouldst hide me in the grave! The grave is not only a resting-place, but a hiding-place, to the people of God. God has the key of the grave, to let in now and to let out at the resurrection. He hides men in the grave, as we hide our treasure in a place of secresy and safety; and he who hides will find, and nothing shall be lost. "O that thou wouldst hide me, not only from the storms and troubles of this life, but for the bliss and glory of a better life! Let me lie in the grave, reserved for immortality, in secret from all the world, but not from thee, not from those eyes which saw my substance when first curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth," Ps. 139:15, 16. There let me lie, (1.) Until thy wrath be past. As long as the bodies of the saints lie in the grave, so long there are some remains of that wrath which they were by nature children of, so long they are under some of the effects of sin; but, when the body is raised, it is wholly past-death, the last enemy, will then be totally destroyed. (2.) Until the set time comes for my being remembered, as Noah was remembered in the ark (Gen. 8:1), where God not only hid him from the destruction of the old world, but reserved him for the reparation of a new world. The bodies of the saints shall not be forgotten in the grave. There is a time appointed, a time set, for their being enquired after. We cannot be sure that we shall look through the darkness of our present troubles and see good days after them in this world; but, if we can but get well to the grave, we may with an eye of faith look through the darkness of that, as Job here, and see better days on the other side of it, in a better world. 2. A holy resolution patiently to attend the will of God both in his death and his resurrection (v. 14): If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait until my change come. Job's friends proving miserable comforters, he set himself to be the more his own comforter. His case was now bad, but he pleases himself with the expectation of a change. I think it cannot be meant of his return to a prosperous condition in this world. His friends indeed flattered him with the hopes of that, but he himself all along despaired of it. Comforts founded upon uncertainties at best must needs be uncertain comforts; and therefore, no doubt, it is something more sure than that which he here bears up himself with the expectation of. The change he waits for must therefore be understood either, (1.) Of the change of the resurrection, when the vile body shall be changed (Phil. 3:21), and a great and glorious change it will be; and then that question, If a man die, shall he live again? must be taken by way of admiration. "Strange! Shall these dry bones live! If so, all the time appointed for the continuance of the separation between soul and body my separate soul shall wait until that change comes, when it shall be united again to the body, and my flesh also shall rest in hope." Ps. 16:9. Or, (2.) Of the change at death. "If a man die, shall he live again? No, not such a life as he now lives; and therefore I will patiently wait until that change comes which will put a period to my calamities, and not impatiently wish for the anticipation of it, as I have done." Observe here, [1.] That it is a serious thing to die; it is a work by itself. It is a change; there is a visible change in the body, its appearance altered, its actions brought to an end, but a greater change with the soul, which quits the body, and removes to the world of spirits, finishes its state of probation and enters upon that of retribution. This change will come, and it will be a final change, not like the transmutations of the elements, which return to their former state. No, we must die, not thus to live again. It is but once to die, and that had need be well done that is to be done but once. An error here is fatal, conclusive, and not again to be rectified. [2.] That therefore it is the duty of every one of us to wait for that change, and to continue waiting all the days of our appointed time. The time of life is an appointed time; that time is to be reckoned by days; and those days are to be spent in waiting for our change. That is, First, We must expect that it will come, and think much of it. Secondly, We must desire that it would come, as those that long to be with Christ. Thirdly, We must be willing to tarry until it does come, as those that believe God's time to be the best. Fourthly, We must give diligence to get ready against it comes, that it may be a blessed change to us. 3. A joyful expectation of bliss and satisfaction in this (v. 15): Then thou shalt call, and I will answer thee. Now, he was under such a cloud that he could not, he durst not, answer (ch. 9:15, 35; 13:22); but he comforted himself with this, that there would come a time when God would call and he should answer. Then, that is, (1.) At the resurrection, "Thou shalt call me out of the grave, by the voice of the archangel, and I will answer and come at the call." The body is the work of God's hands, and he will have a desire to that, having prepared a glory for it. Or, (2.) At death: "Thou shalt call my body to the grave, and my soul to thyself, and I will answer, Ready, Lord, ready-Coming, coming; here I am." Gracious souls can cheerfully answer death's summons, and appear to his writ. Their spirits are not forcibly required from them (as Lu. 12:20), but willingly resigned by them, and the earthly tabernacle not violently pulled down, but voluntarily laid down, with this assurance, "Thou wilt have a desire to the work of thy hands. Thou hast mercy in store for me, not only as made by thy providence, but new-made by thy grace;" otherwise he that made them will not save them. Note, Grace in the soul is the work of God's own hands, and therefore he will not forsake it in this world (Ps. 138:8), but will have a desire to it, to perfect it in the other, and to crown it with endless glory.
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Cut-Off Dead Die Dies Dry Dust Earth End Ground Grow Grows Root Roots Soil Stem Stock Stump Thereof Wax New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. GOD'S WORD® is a copyrighted work of God's Word to the Nations. Quotations are used by permission. Copyright 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. All rights reserved. Alphabetical: and die dies dry ground grow in Its may old roots soil stump the Though Bible Browser | |
February 18 Evening
Adam . . . begat a son in his own likeness.--GEN. 5:3. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?--Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. Dead in trespasses and sins; . . . by nature the children of wrath, even as others.--I am carnal, sold under sin. That which I do I allow not; for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing. By one man sin entered into the world, . . . by one man's …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily PathNovember 22 Evening
There is a hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.--JOB 14:7. A bruised reed shall he not break.--He restoreth my soul. Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.--No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceful fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Before I was afflicted …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path October 19 Evening
Consolation in Christ, . . . comfort of love, . . . fellowship of the Spirit.--PHI. 2:1. Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down; he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.--My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. The Father . . . shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever: the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name.--Blessed be God, …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path Job's Question, Jesus' Answer
'If a man die, shall he live again?'--JOB xiv. 14. '... I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: 26. And whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die.'--JOHN xi. 25, 26. Job's question waited long for an answer. Weary centuries rolled away; but at last the doubting, almost despairing, cry put into the mouth of the man of sorrows of the Old Testament is answered by the Man of Sorrows of the New. The answer in words is this second …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture An Unanswerable Question.
"Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one."--JOB xiv. 4. This is one of those simple questions which, by their very simplicity and directness, set us thinking about the importance of our personal life. "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?" But all our common life is somehow the outcome of our separate individual lives--of your life and mine. Therefore how important it is in the common interest that each of us should look above all things to his own life and its character, …
John Percival—Sermons at Rugby A Voice from the Hartley Colliery
This text is appropriate to the occasion, but God alone knoweth how applicable the discourse may be to some here present; yes, to young hearts little dreaming that there is but a step between them and death; to aged persons, who as yet have not set their house in order, but who must do it, for they shall die and not live. We will take the question of the text, and answer it upon Scriptural grounds. "If a man die, shall he live again?" NO!--YES! I. We answer the question first with a "No." He shall …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 8: 1863 The Voice of Job.
O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me! If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands.'--Job xiv. 13-15. The book of Job seems to me the most daring of poems: from a position of the most vantageless realism, it assaults the very …
George MacDonald—Unspoken Sermons Meditations for the Evening.
At evening, when thou preparest thyself to take thy rest, meditate on these few points:-- 1. That seeing thy days are numbered (Psal. xc.; Job xiv. 5), there is one more of thy number spent, and thou art now the nearer to thy end by a day. 2. Sit down a while before thou goest to bed, and consider with thyself what memorable thing thou hast seen, heard, or read that day, more than thou sawest, heardst, or knewest before, and make the best use of them; but especially call to mind what sin thou hast …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety My God! I Know that I must Die.
"Mein Gott! ich weiss wohl dass lch sterbe." Job 14:11,12. [13]B. Schmolk. transl., Sarah Findlater, 1854 My God! I know that I must die-- My mortal life is passing hence On earth I neither hope nor try To find a lasting residence. Then teach me by Thy heavenly grace, With joy and peace my death to face. My God! I know not when I die, What is the moment or the hour-- How soon the clay may broken lie, How quickly pass away the flower; Then may Thy child prepared be Through time to meet Eternity. …
Jane Borthwick—Hymns from the Land of Luther Life, Death, and Judgment. --Job xiv. 1-3. 11-13.
Life, Death, and Judgment.--Job xiv. 1-3. 11-13. Few, few and evil are thy days, Man, of a woman born; Peril and trouble haunt thy ways; Forth, like a flower at morn, The tender infant springs to light, Youth blossoms to the breeze, Age, withering age, is cropt ere night; Man like a shadow flees. And dost thou look on such an one? Will God to judgment call A worm, for what a worm hath done Against the Lord of all? As fail the waters from the deep, As summer-brooks run dry, Man lieth down in dreamless …
James Montgomery—Sacred Poems and Hymns Whether one Can be Happy in this Life?
Objection 1: It would seem that Happiness can be had in this life. For it is written (Ps. 118:1): "Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord." But this happens in this life. Therefore one can be happy in this life. Objection 2: Further, imperfect participation in the Sovereign Good does not destroy the nature of Happiness, otherwise one would not be happier than another. But men can participate in the Sovereign Good in this life, by knowing and loving God, albeit imperfectly. …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica Whether There is to be a Resurrection of the Body?
Objection 1: It would seem that there is not to be a resurrection of the body: for it is written (Job 14:12): "Man, when he is fallen asleep, shall not rise again till the heavens be broken." But the heavens shall never be broken, since the earth, to which seemingly this is still less applicable, "standeth for ever" (Eccles. 1:4). Therefore the man that is dead shall never rise again. Objection 2: Further, Our Lord proves the resurrection by quoting the words: "I am the God of Abraham, and the God …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica Whether the Time of Our Resurrection Should be Delayed Till the End of the World?
Objection 1: It would seem that the time of the resurrection ought not to be delayed till the end of the world, so that all may rise together. For there is more conformity between head and members than between one member and another, as there is more between cause and effect than between one effect and another. Now Christ, Who is our Head, did not delay His resurrection until the end of the world, so as to rise again together with all men. Therefore there is no need for the resurrection of the early …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica Whether the Resurrection Will Take Place at Night-Time?
Objection 1: It would seem that the resurrection will not be at night-time. For the resurrection will not be "till the heavens be broken" (Job 14:12). Now when the heavenly movement ceases, which is signified by its breaking, there will be no time, neither night nor day. Therefore the resurrection will not be at night-time. Objection 2: Further, the end of a thing ought to be most perfect. Now the end of time will be then: wherefore it is said (Apoc. 10:6) that "time shall be no longer." Therefore …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica Whether Separated Souls Know that Takes Place on Earth?
Objection 1: It would seem that separated souls know what takes place on earth; for otherwise they would have no care for it, as they have, according to what Dives said (Lk. 16:27,28), "I have five brethren . . . he may testify unto them, lest they also come into the place of torments." Therefore separated souls know what passes on earth. Objection 2: Further, the dead often appear to the living, asleep or awake, and tell them of what takes place there; as Samuel appeared to Saul (1 Kings 28:11). …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica Whether a Man May Merit for Himself the First Grace?
Objection 1: It would seem that a man may merit for himself the first grace, because, as Augustine says (Ep. clxxxvi), "faith merits justification." Now a man is justified by the first grace. Therefore a man may merit the first grace. Objection 2: Further, God gives grace only to the worthy. Now, no one is said to be worthy of some good, unless he has merited it condignly. Therefore we may merit the first grace condignly. Objection 3: Further, with men we may merit a gift already received. Thus if …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica Whether Christ's Body Rose Again Entire?
Objection 1: It would seem that Christ's body did not rise entire. For flesh and blood belong to the integrity of the body: whereas Christ seems not to have had both, for it is written (1 Cor. 15:50): "Flesh and blood can not possess the kingdom of God." But Christ rose in the glory of the kingdom of God. Therefore it seems that He did not have flesh and blood. Objection 2: Further, blood is one of the four humors. Consequently, if Christ had blood, with equal reason He also had the other humors, …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica Whether the Saints have Knowledge of Our Prayers?
Objection 1: It would seem that the saints have no knowledge of our prayers. For a gloss on Is. 62:16, "Thou art our father and Abraham hath not known us, and Israel hath been ignorant of us," says that "the dead saints know not what the living, even their own children, are doing." This is taken from Augustine (De Cura pro Mort. xiii), where he quotes the aforesaid authority, and the following are his words: "If such great men as the patriarchs knew not what was happening to the people begotten of …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica Whether the Damned See the Glory of the Blessed?
Objection 1: It would seem that the damned do not see the glory of the blessed. For they are more distant from the glory of the blessed than from the happenings of this world. But they do not see what happens in regard to us: hence Gregory commenting on Job 14:21, "Whether his children come to honor," etc. says (Moral. xii): "Even as those who still live know not in what place are the souls of the dead; so the dead who have lived in the body know not the things which regard the life of those who …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica Moral Depravity.
VIII. Let us consider the proper method of accounting for the universal and total moral depravity of the unregenerate moral agents of our race. In the discussion of this subject, I will-- 1. Endeavor to show how it is not to be accounted for. In examining this part of the subject, it is necessary to have distinctly in view that which constitutes moral depravity. All the error that has existed upon this subject, has been founded in false assumptions in regard to the nature or essence of moral depravity. …
Charles Grandison Finney—Systematic Theology Through the Fall and Revolt of Adam, the Whole Human Race Made Accursed and Degenerate. Of Original Sin.
1. The knowledge of ourselves most necessary. To use it properly we must be divested of pride, and clothed with true humility, which will dispose us to consider our fall, and embrace the mercy of God in Christ. 2. Though there is plausibility in the sentiment which stimulates us to self-admiration, the only sound sentiment is that which inclines us to true humbleness of mind. Pretexts for pride. The miserable vanity of sinful man. 3. Different views taken by carnal wisdom and by conscience, which …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion Original Sin. Rom. 5:12, Etc. ; Psa. 51:5; Job 14:04
Original sin. Rom. 5:12, etc.; Psa. 51:5; Job 14:4. Backward with humble shame we look On our original; How is our nature dashed and broke In our first father's fall! To all that's good averse and blind, But prone to all that's ill What dreadful darkness veils our mind! How obstinate our will! [Conceived in sin, O wretched state! Before we draw our breath The first young pulse begins to beat Iniquity and death. How strong in our degen'rate blood The old corruption reigns, And, mingling with the …
Isaac Watts—The Psalms and Hymns of Isaac Watts One Thing is Needful;
or, SERIOUS MEDITATIONS UPON THE FOUR LAST THINGS: DEATH, JUDGMENT, HEAVEN, AND HELL UNTO WHICH IS ADDED EBAL AND GERIZZIM, OR THE BLESSING AND THE CURSE, by John Bunyan. London: Printed for Nath. Ponder, at the Peacock in the Poultry, 1688.[1] ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. According to Charles Doe, in that curious sheet called The Struggler for the Preservation of Mr. John Bunyan's Labours, these poems were published about the year 1664, while the author was suffering imprisonment for conscience …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3 A Wise Desire
I remember once going to a chapel where this happened to be the text, and the good man who occupied the pulpit was more than a little of an Arminian. Therefore, when he commenced, he said, "This passage refers entirely to our temporal inheritance. It has nothing whatever to do with our everlasting destiny: for," said he, "We do not want Christ to choose for us in the matter of heaven or hell. It is so plain and easy that every man who has a grain of common sense will choose heaven; and any person …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 1: 1855 |
