New International Version
Job 14:2
2They spring up like flowers and wither away; like fleeting shadows, they do not endure.
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.
- 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.
- 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“Mortals, born of woman, are of few days and full of trouble. They spring up like flowers and wither away; like fleeting shadows, they do not endure. 3Do you fix your eye on them? Will you bring them before you for judgment? 4Who can bring what is pure from the impure? 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 90:5Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death— they are like the new grass of the morning:
- Psalms 92:7that though the wicked spring up like grass and all evildoers flourish, they will be destroyed forever.
- Psalms 103:15The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field;
- Isaiah 40:6A voice says, “Cry out.” And I said, “What shall I cry?” “All people are like grass, and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.
- James 1:10But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower.
- James 4:14Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
- 1 Peter 1:24For, “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall,
- Job 8:9for we were born only yesterday and know nothing, and our days on earth are but a shadow.
- Job 9:25“My days are swifter than a runner; they fly away without a glimpse of joy.
- 1 Chronicles 29:15We are foreigners and strangers in your sight, as were all our ancestors. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope.
- Psalms 102:11My days are like the evening shadow; I wither away like grass.
- Psalms 144:4They are like a breath; their days are like a fleeting shadow.
- Ecclesiastes 8:13Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.
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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