English Standard Version
Job 14:2
2He comes out like a flower and withers; he flees like a shadow and continues not.
Job 14:2 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
- New International Version (NIV)They spring up like flowers and wither away; like fleeting shadows, they do not endure.
- New King James Version (NKJV)He comes forth like a flower and fades away; He flees like a shadow and does not continue.
- New Living Translation (NLT)We blossom like a flower and then wither. Like a passing shadow, we quickly disappear.
Context of Job 14:2
1"Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble. He comes out like a flower and withers; he flees like a shadow and continues not. 3And do you open your eyes on such a one and bring me into judgment with you? 4Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one.
Read all of Job 14Job 14:2 word by word
כְּצִ֣יץ יָ֭צָא וַיִּמָּ֑ל וַיִּבְרַ֥ח כַּ֝צֵּ֗ל וְלֹ֣א יַעֲמֽוֹד׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 14:2
- Psalms 90:5You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning:
- Psalms 92:7that though the wicked sprout like grass and all evildoers flourish, they are doomed to destruction forever;
- Psalms 103:15As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field;
- Isaiah 40:6A voice says, "Cry!" And I said, "What shall I cry?" All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.
- James 1:10and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away.
- James 4:14yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
- 1 Peter 1:24for "All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls,
- Job 8:9For we are but of yesterday and know nothing, for our days on earth are a shadow.
- Job 9:25"My days are swifter than a runner; they flee away; they see no good.
- 1 Chronicles 29:15For we are strangers before you and sojourners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no abiding.
- Psalms 102:11My days are like an evening shadow; I wither away like grass.
- Psalms 144:4Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.
- Ecclesiastes 8:13But it will not be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong his days like a shadow, because he does not fear before God.
Commentaries on Job 14:2
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 2He cometh forth like a flower - This is a frequent image both in the Old and New Testament writers; I need not quote the places here, as the readers will find them all in the margin. He fleeth also as a shadow - Himself, as he appears among men, is only the shadow of his real, substantial, and eternal being. He is here compared to a vegetable; he springs up, bears his flower is often nipped by disease, blasted by afflictions and at last cut down by death…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 2He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down - Nothing can be more obvious and more beautiful than this, and the image has been employed by writers in all ages, but nowhere with more beauty, or with more frequency than in the Bible; see Isaiah 40:6; Psalm 37:2; Psalm 90:6; Psalm 103:15. Next to the Bible, it is probable that Shakespeare has employed the image with the most exquisite beauty of any poet: This is the state of man; today he puts forth The…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1-2The flower symbolizes how short life is (Psalms 90:5–6; 103:15–16; Isaiah 40:6–7). A shadow passes quickly (1 Chronicles 29:15; Psalm 102:11).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 22. (Psa 90:6; see on Job 8:9).Read the comment
Topics related to Job 14:2
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Job 14
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
English Standard Version — © 2001 Crossway Bibles
Commentaries