New English Translation
Job 14:2
2He grows up like a flower and then withers away; he flees like a shadow, and does not remain.
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“Man, born of woman, lives but a few days, and they are full of trouble. He grows up like a flower and then withers away; he flees like a shadow, and does not remain. 3Do you fix your eye on such a one? And do you bring me before you for judgment? 4Who can make a clean thing come from an unclean? No 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 bring their lives to an end and they “fall asleep.” In the morning they are like the grass that sprouts up;
- Psalms 92:7When the wicked sprout up like grass, and all the evildoers glisten, it is so that they may be annihilated.
- Psalms 103:15A person’s life is like grass. Like a flower in the field it flourishes,
- Isaiah 40:6A voice says, “Cry out!” Another asks, “What should I cry out?” The first voice responds: “All people are like grass, and all their promises are like the flowers in the field.
- James 1:10But the rich person’s pride should be in his humiliation, because he will pass away like a wildflower in the meadow.
- James 4:14You do not know about tomorrow. What is your life like? For you are a puff of smoke that appears for a short time and then vanishes.
- 1 Peter 1:24For all flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of the grass; the grass withers and the flower falls off,
- Job 8:9For we were born yesterday and do not have knowledge, since our days on earth are but a shadow.
- Job 9:25“My days are swifter than a runner, they speed by without seeing happiness.
- 1 Chronicles 29:15For we are resident foreigners and nomads in your presence, like all our ancestors; our days are like a shadow on the earth, without security.
- Psalms 102:11My days are coming to an end, and I am withered like grass.
- Psalms 144:4People are like a vapor, their days like a shadow that disappears.
- Ecclesiastes 8:13But it will not go well with the wicked, nor will they prolong their days like a shadow, because they do not stand in 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
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