Job 14

Job 14 is the final chapter of the first cycle of speeches between Job and his three friends (chapters 4–14). It concludes Job's reply (chapters 12–14) to the speech of Zophar (chapter 11). Beginning in the middle of chapter 13, Job addresses God directly rather than his friends, and he continues that appeal in this chapter.

Outline

• Verses 1–6 Man born of a woman withers like a flower and passes away like a shadow. Job asks the Lord, who has determined the number of man's days, to turn His gaze away from him so that he may rest like a hired laborer.
• Verses 7–12 A tree, even when cut down, sprouts again. Man, however, lies down and does not rise again, like water that dries up, and does not awake from his sleep until the heavens are no more.
• Verses 13–17 Job longs for God to hide him in Sheol until His wrath has passed and then to remember him. He then asks, "If a man die, shall he live again?" Yet he laments that for now God numbers his steps and seals up his transgression in a bag.
• Verses 18–22 As mountains crumble and water wears away stones, so God destroys the hope of man. The dead do not know whether their sons come to honor or are brought low; they feel only the pain of their own flesh and the sorrow of their own soul.

Key Verses

• Job 14:1 "Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble": a classic verse on the transience of human life.
• Job 14:4 "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one": frequently cited as a verse on the fundamental impurity of humanity.
• Job 14:14 "If a man die, shall he live again?": the first point in the Book of Job at which hope after death emerges as a question.

Characters and Places

• Job: the speaker of this chapter, who appeals directly to God.
• Job's three friends: they do not appear directly in this chapter, which forms the closing portion of Job's reply to one of them, Zophar.
• Sheol (verse 13): the Hebrew term Sheol, which in the Old Testament refers to the place where the dead dwell.

Points for Reflection

• Interpretations of the question in verse 14 differ. Some read it as a lament that presupposes the answer "No, he cannot live again." Others see in the hypothetical wishes of verses 13–15 a glimpse of longing for restoration beyond death. Many see this hope as leading to Job's confession in Job 19, "I know that my redeemer liveth." The passage is also read in connection with the New Testament faith in the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15).
• In the Christian tradition, verse 4 has been cited together with Psalm 51:5 and Psalm 58:3 in explaining original sin. Other interpretations read the verse more narrowly as a lament over human frailty.
• Verses 1–2 are known to have been used in the burial service of the Church of England's Book of Common Prayer.