Where we are
Where we are in the book
Job's reply closes with mortality, judgment, and a flash of longing for renewal.
Follow every verse
Verse-by-verse study
Move from the study rendering, to the verse's place in the argument, to Hebrew and detailed language notes.
Jobs 1–8 include detailed verse-level notes from the supplied exegetical companion. Jobs 9–42 currently use the supplied whole-book synthesis and Hebrew text, with that source-depth difference marked on every verse.
Job 14:1
Few days and full of trouble
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Job 14:2
Few days and full of trouble
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Commentary in context
Job 14:1-6: Job compares humanity to a flower and shadow and asks for relief from relentless judgment. Mortality levels every claim to self-sufficiency.
Job 14:3
Few days and full of trouble
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Commentary in context
Job 14:1-6: Job compares humanity to a flower and shadow and asks for relief from relentless judgment. Mortality levels every claim to self-sufficiency.
Job 14:4
Few days and full of trouble
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Commentary in context
Job 14:1-6: Job compares humanity to a flower and shadow and asks for relief from relentless judgment. Mortality levels every claim to self-sufficiency.
Job 14:5
Few days and full of trouble
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Commentary in context
Job 14:1-6: Job compares humanity to a flower and shadow and asks for relief from relentless judgment. Mortality levels every claim to self-sufficiency.
Job 14:6
Few days and full of trouble
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Commentary in context
Job 14:1-6: Job compares humanity to a flower and shadow and asks for relief from relentless judgment. Mortality levels every claim to self-sufficiency.
Job 14:7
A tree may sprout again
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Commentary in context
Job 14:7-12: A cut tree can renew at the scent of water, but Job sees human death as a more final disappearance. Creation supplies an image of hope that human observation cannot secure.
Job 14:8
A tree may sprout again
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Commentary in context
Job 14:7-12: A cut tree can renew at the scent of water, but Job sees human death as a more final disappearance. Creation supplies an image of hope that human observation cannot secure.
Job 14:9
A tree may sprout again
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Commentary in context
Job 14:7-12: A cut tree can renew at the scent of water, but Job sees human death as a more final disappearance. Creation supplies an image of hope that human observation cannot secure.
Job 14:10
A tree may sprout again
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Commentary in context
Job 14:7-12: A cut tree can renew at the scent of water, but Job sees human death as a more final disappearance. Creation supplies an image of hope that human observation cannot secure.
Job 14:11
A tree may sprout again
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Commentary in context
Job 14:7-12: A cut tree can renew at the scent of water, but Job sees human death as a more final disappearance. Creation supplies an image of hope that human observation cannot secure.
Job 14:12
A tree may sprout again
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Commentary in context
Job 14:7-12: A cut tree can renew at the scent of water, but Job sees human death as a more final disappearance. Creation supplies an image of hope that human observation cannot secure.
Job 14:13
Hide me until wrath passes
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Commentary in context
Job 14:13-17: Job asks to be remembered after an appointed time and wonders whether he could wait for renewal. Longing reaches beyond present evidence without becoming a complete doctrine of resurrection.
Job 14:14
Hide me until wrath passes
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Commentary in context
Job 14:13-17: Job asks to be remembered after an appointed time and wonders whether he could wait for renewal. Longing reaches beyond present evidence without becoming a complete doctrine of resurrection.
Job 14:15
Hide me until wrath passes
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Commentary in context
Job 14:13-17: Job asks to be remembered after an appointed time and wonders whether he could wait for renewal. Longing reaches beyond present evidence without becoming a complete doctrine of resurrection.
Job 14:16
Hide me until wrath passes
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Commentary in context
Job 14:13-17: Job asks to be remembered after an appointed time and wonders whether he could wait for renewal. Longing reaches beyond present evidence without becoming a complete doctrine of resurrection.
Job 14:17
Hide me until wrath passes
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Commentary in context
Job 14:13-17: Job asks to be remembered after an appointed time and wonders whether he could wait for renewal. Longing reaches beyond present evidence without becoming a complete doctrine of resurrection.
Job 14:18
You destroy human hope
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Commentary in context
Job 14:18-22: The chapter returns to erosion, separation, and grief as death overtakes a person. Job ends without resolution, keeping the question alive for the whole canon.
Job 14:19
You destroy human hope
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Commentary in context
Job 14:18-22: The chapter returns to erosion, separation, and grief as death overtakes a person. Job ends without resolution, keeping the question alive for the whole canon.
Job 14:20
You destroy human hope
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Commentary in context
Job 14:18-22: The chapter returns to erosion, separation, and grief as death overtakes a person. Job ends without resolution, keeping the question alive for the whole canon.
Job 14:21
You destroy human hope
Read Job 14:21 in your preferred licensed English Bible. An English text is not reproduced here without confirmed publication permission.
Commentary in context
Job 14:18-22: The chapter returns to erosion, separation, and grief as death overtakes a person. Job ends without resolution, keeping the question alive for the whole canon.
Job 14:22
You destroy human hope
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Commentary in context
Job 14:18-22: The chapter returns to erosion, separation, and grief as death overtakes a person. Job ends without resolution, keeping the question alive for the whole canon.
Read the movement
Chapter outline and verse-range explanation
Job 14:1-6 · Few days and full of trouble
- What is being said?
- Job compares humanity to a flower and shadow and asks for relief from relentless judgment.
- Why does it matter here?
- Mortality levels every claim to self-sufficiency.
Job 14:7-12 · A tree may sprout again
- What is being said?
- A cut tree can renew at the scent of water, but Job sees human death as a more final disappearance.
- Why does it matter here?
- Creation supplies an image of hope that human observation cannot secure.
Job 14:13-17 · Hide me until wrath passes
- What is being said?
- Job asks to be remembered after an appointed time and wonders whether he could wait for renewal.
- Why does it matter here?
- Longing reaches beyond present evidence without becoming a complete doctrine of resurrection.
Job 14:18-22 · You destroy human hope
- What is being said?
- The chapter returns to erosion, separation, and grief as death overtakes a person.
- Why does it matter here?
- Job ends without resolution, keeping the question alive for the whole canon.
Coverage check: Job 14:1-22 is covered continuously by the ranges above.
Follow the argument
Words, images, and argument flow
Key words and images
mortal, tree, live, remember, hope
Argument flow
Job demanded a hearing and asked God to name the charge. Human life is brief and fragile. Job imagines being hidden until wrath passes and asks whether life can come again after death. Eliphaz opens the second cycle by treating Job's lament as dangerous theology.
Connection to the previous speech
Job demanded a hearing and asked God to name the charge.
Connection to the next speech
Eliphaz opens the second cycle by treating Job's lament as dangerous theology.
Read beneath the cross
Law, Gospel, and Christian hope
Law
We protect tidy systems by accusing neighbors and speaking beyond what God has revealed.
Gospel
God hears Job's appeal and will finally expose false accusation rather than abandon the sufferer to it.
Theology of the cross
The cross overturns a theology of glory that measures righteousness by visible ease and power.
Lutheran theological connection
Law and Gospel must be distinguished and personally applied; true doctrine used to crush the wrong person becomes false counsel.
Christ-centered canonical connection
Job's longings for witness, mediator, and Redeemer find their sure canonical fulfillment in Christ while each Job text retains its literary context.
Life together
Pastoral and vocational application
Pastoral application
Do not diagnose calamity as punishment for a particular hidden sin without a word God has actually spoken.
Vocation and life together
Use speech to defend reputations, accompany sufferers, and correct unsupported accusations.
Harmful readings to avoid
- Do not infer a specific hidden sin from suffering, illness, bereavement, infertility, mental illness, or disaster.
- Do not treat lament or questioning as automatic unbelief.
Reflect and pray
Discussion questions
- What changes in the argument or story across Job 14?
- Which words or images in Job 14 deserve slow attention?
- What is true here, and what conclusion must not be drawn?
- How does this chapter teach us to accompany a suffering neighbor?
Prayer
God of the living, remember us in Christ and sustain hope when death appears to have the final word.
Go further
Related themes, voices, and media
Related themes
Related speakers
Verified media
- The Book of Job: An Overview, Concordia Publishing House (opens in a new tab)
- 40 Minutes in the Old Testament: Job, 1517 (opens in a new tab)
Sources
- Holy Scripture, Job
- Lutheran Confessions and Small Catechism
- South Lake Job research corpus
Commentary in context
Job 14:1-6: Job compares humanity to a flower and shadow and asks for relief from relentless judgment. Mortality levels every claim to self-sufficiency.