Job entreats God for favor by the shortness of life and certainty of death, 1-6. He waits for his change, 7-15. By sin the creature is subject to corruption, 16-22.
1 "Man, who is born of a woman,/
is of few days and full of trouble.
2 He comes forth like a flower and is cut down./
He flees also as a shadow and does not continue.
3 And do you open your eyes upon such a one/
and bring me into judgment with you?
4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?/
No one.
5 Seeing his days are determined,/
the number of his months is with you,/
and you have appointed his bounds that he cannot pass.
6 Turn from him so that he may rest/
until he accomplishes his day as a hireling.
7 For there is hope for a tree/
if it is cut down, that it will sprout again/
and that its tender branch will not cease.
8 Though its root becomes old in the earth/
and its stock dies in the ground,
9 Yet through the scent of water it will bud/
and bring forth boughs like a plant.
10 But man dies and wastes away./
Indeed, man yields his breath, and where is he?
11 As the waters fail from the sea/
and the flood decays and dries up,
12 So man lies down and does not rise./
Until the heavens are no more, they shall not awake,/
nor be raised out of their sleep.
13 O that you would hide me in the grave,/
that you would keep me secret until your wrath is past,/
that you would appoint me a set time and remember me!
14 If a man dies, shall he live again?/
All the days of my appointed time I will wait/
until my change comes.
15 You shall call, and I will answer you./
You will have a desire to the work of your hands.
16 For now you number my steps./
Do you not watch over my sin?
17 My transgression is sealed up in a bag,/
and you sew up my iniquity.
18 And surely the mountain falling comes to nothing,/
and the rock is removed out of its place.
19 The waters wear the stones./
You wash away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth/
and you destroy the hope of man.
20 You prevail forever against him, and he passes./
You change his countenance and send him away.
21 His sons come to honor, and he does not know it./
And they are brought low, but he does not perceive it of them.
22 But his flesh upon him shall have pain,/
and his soul within him shall mourn."
Matthew Henry Commentary - Job, Chapter 14[➚]
John Gill's Chapter Summary:
Job, having turned himself from his friends to God, continues his address to him in this chapter; wherein he discourses of the frailty of man, the shortness of his life, the troubles that are in it, the sinfulness of it, and its limited duration, beyond which it cannot continue; all which he makes use of with God, that he would not therefore deal rigorously with him, but have pity on him, and cease from severely afflicting him, until he came to the end of his days, which could not be long (verses 1-6); he observes of a tree, when it is cut down to the root, and even when the root has become old, and the stock dies, it will, by means of being watered, bud and sprout again, and produce boughs and branches; but man, like the failing waters of the sea, and the decayed and dried up flood, when he dies, does not rise, until the heavens are no more (verses 7-12); and then he wishes to be hid in the grave until that time, and expresses hope and belief of the resurrection of the dead (verses 13-15); and goes on to complain of the strict notice God took of his sins, of his severe dealings with men, destroying their hope in life, and removing them by death; so that they see and know not the case and circumstances of their children they leave behind, and while they live, they have continual pain and sorrow (verses 16-22).
[v.2] - "He comes forth like a flower and is cut down" - LXX: "Or he falls like a flower that has bloomed."
[v.10] - "wastes away" - Or, "is laid low."
[v.14] - "All the days of my appointed time I will wait, until my change comes" - This may also be read as, "All the days of my warfare I would wait, until my release should come."
[v.17] - "sew" - Or, "fasten."