God’s Word Translation
Job 14:2
2He comes up like a flower; then he withers. He is like a fleeting shadow; he doesn’t stay long.
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.
- English Standard Version (ESV)He comes out like a flower and withers; he flees like a shadow and continues not.
- New King James Version (NKJV)He comes forth like a flower and fades away; He flees like a shadow and does not continue.
Context of Job 14:2
1“A person who is born of a woman is short-lived and is full of trouble. He comes up like a flower; then he withers. He is like a fleeting shadow; he doesn’t stay long. 3You observe this and call me to account to you. 4“If only an unclean person could become clean! It’s not possible.
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 mortals away. They are a dream. They sprout again in the morning like cut grass.
- Psalms 92:7that wicked people sprout like grass and all troublemakers blossom ⌞like flowers⌟, only to be destroyed forever.
- Psalms 103:15Human life is as short-lived as grass. It blossoms like a flower in the field.
- Isaiah 40:6A voice called, “Call out!” I asked, “What should I call out?” “Call out: All people are like grass, and all their beauty is like a flower in the field.
- James 1:10Rich believers should be proud because being rich should make them humble. Rich people will wither like flowers.
- James 4:14You don’t know what will happen tomorrow. What is life? You are a mist that is seen for a moment and then disappears.
- 1 Peter 1:24“All people are like grass, and all their beauty is like a flower of the field. The grass dries up and the flower drops off,
- Job 8:9We have only been around since yesterday, and we know nothing. Our days on earth are only a fleeting shadow.
- Job 9:25“My days go by more quickly than a runner. They sprint away. They don’t see anything good.
- 1 Chronicles 29:15To you we are all like our ancestors— foreigners without permanent homes. Our days are as fleeting as shadows on the ground. There’s no hope ⌞for them⌟.
- Psalms 102:11My days are like a shadow that is getting longer, and I wither away like grass.
- Psalms 144:4Humans are like a breath of air. Their life span is like a fleeting shadow.
- Ecclesiastes 8:13But it will not go well for the wicked. They will not live any longer. Their lives are like shadows, because they don’t fear 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
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
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