Job 14
The full text of Job 14 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Hebrew. Free to read.
1 Man born of woman —
short of days, full of turmoil.
2 He springs up like a flower and withers;
he flees like a shadow and does not last.
3 And do you open your eyes on such a one
and bring me into judgment with you?
4 Who can bring a clean thing from an unclean?
Not one.
5 Since his days are determined,
the number of his months is with you,
and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass,
6 look away from him, and leave him alone,
that he may enjoy, like a hired hand, his day.
7 For there is hope for a tree —
if it is cut down, it will sprout again,
and its shoots will not cease.
8 Though its root grows old in the earth
and its stump dies in the soil,
9 at the scent of water it will bud
and put out branches like a young plant.
10 But a man dies and lies low;
when a mortal breathes his last, where is he?
11 As waters vanish from a lake,
as a river dwindles and dries up,
12 so man lies down and does not rise;
till the heavens are no more he will not wake
or be roused from his sleep.
13 Oh that you would hide me in Sheol,
that you would conceal me till your wrath is past,
that you would appoint me a fixed time, then remember me!
14 If a man dies, will he live again?
All the days of my hard service I would wait
till my relief should come.
15 You would call, and I would answer you;
you would long for the work of your hands.
16 For then you would count my steps;
you would not watch over my sin.
17 My transgression would be sealed up in a bag,
and you would cover over my iniquity.
18 But as a mountain falls and crumbles away,
and as a rock is moved from its place,
19 as water wears away stones,
as floods wash away the soil of the earth —
so you destroy a man's hope.
20 You overpower him once for all, and he passes;
you change his face and send him away.
21 His sons come to honor, and he does not know it;
they are brought low, and he does not perceive it.
22 He feels only the pain of his own body
and mourns only for himself.
Translation notes (10)
- Job 14:3a The Masoretic Text reads 'me', while a few Hebrew manuscripts, the Septuagint, and the Latin Vulgate read 'him'.
- Job 14:4a The Hebrew opens with the idiom mi-yitten, literally 'who can give', a formula expressing an unattainable wish. The Septuagint reads differently: 'For who shall be pure from uncleanness? Not even one, even if his life is but one day upon the earth', an expansion cited by some early Christian writers in discussions of infant impurity. This translation follows the terser Masoretic Text.
- Job 14:6a The Hebrew yomo, 'his day' (יוֹמוֹ), likely denotes the allotted life-span conceived as a hired worker's fixed term. The verb yirtzeh (from ratsah, 'be pleased, be satisfied') is rendered here as 'enjoy', but may also be understood as 'complete' or 'fulfill'.
- Job 14:9a The Hebrew simile kemo neta' (כמו נטע), 'like a plant', is generic; it can denote a sapling or a newly planted shoot. 'Young plant' is chosen to reflect the juvenile growth implied by the image.
- Job 14:10a Hebrew employs a pairing of terms: gever, 'man' (גבר) and adam, 'mortal/human' (אדם). The second can emphasize human frailty; hence it is rendered here as 'mortal' to mark the contrast.
- Job 14:12a The Hebrew ad-bilti shamayim, literally 'until the heavens are not', is a hyperbole for never, since ancient Israel regarded the heavens as permanent (compare Psalm 89:29). Job is not predicting the cosmos will end but declaring that the dead sleep beyond any waking within the created order.
- Job 14:14a The Hebrew tsava (צָבָא), 'hard service', denotes compulsory military or labor duty, and chaliphah (חֲלִיפָה), 'relief', is the changing of a guard or work shift; Job pictures death's waiting as a soldier's watch until he is relieved. The opening clause lacks an interrogative particle, so some read it as a conditional statement rather than a question, but the context of verse 13 favors the question.
- Job 14:17a The sealing of a bag alludes to the ancient Near Eastern practice of securing important documents or valuables, such as legal records, in a sealed container for preservation or later review.
- Job 14:20a The idiom rendered 'change his face' (Hebrew meshanneh panav) most naturally describes the alteration that death works on the countenance, the pallor and distortion by which the dying man becomes unrecognizable. The clause 'send him away' then pictures dismissal into death, continuing the image of an overpowered man who 'passes' beyond recall.
- Job 14:21a Hebrew kabed, 'be honored', underlies 'come to honor', and tsa'ar, 'be insignificant', underlies 'are brought low'; lahem, 'for them', means 'about them'. The Septuagint has plēthynthōsin, 'increase', and elattōthōsin, 'be diminished', likely an interpretive rendering of the contrasting fortunes of the sons.
About this translation
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