Man born of woman has a short life
1 Man born of woman
has a short life full of sorrow.
2 Like a flower he blossoms and withers;
transient and fleeting as a shadow.
13 28 He falls apart like worm-eaten wood,
like cloth devoured by the moths.
3 Is he the one you look on
and bring before you for judgment?
4 Who can bring the clean from the unclean?
No one!
5 Since his days are measured
and you have decreed the number of his months,
set him bounds he cannot pass,
6 then leave him alone. Turn away from him
till he completes his day like a hireling.
7 There is hope for a tree:
if cut down it will sprout again,
its new shoots will still appear.
8 Though its roots grow old in the ground
and its stump withers in the soil,
9 at the scent of water it will bud
and put forth shoots like a young plant.
10 But when man is cut down, he comes undone;
he breathes his last – where will he be?
11 The waters of the sea may disappear,
rivers drain away,
12 but the one who lies down will not rise again;
the heavens will vanish before he wakes,
before he rises from his sleep.
13 If only you would hide me in the grave
and shelter me till your wrath is past!
If only you would set a time for me
and then remember me!
14 If you die, will you live again?
All the days of my service
I would wait for my release.
15 You would call and I would answer;
you would long for the work of your hands again.
16 Now you watch my every step,
but then you would stop counting my sins.
17 My offenses would be sealed in a bag,
and you would do away with my guilt.
18 But as mountains erode and crum ble,
as rock is moved from its place,
19 as waters wear away stones
and floods wash away the soil,
so you destroy the hope of man.
20 You crush him once for all, and he is gone;
you change his appearance and send him away.
21 If his children are honored, he does not know it;
if brought low, he does not see it.
22 Only the pain of his own body does he feel;
only for himself does he mourn.
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Comments Job, Chapter 14
• 14.1 Through his personal case, Job presents a general criticism of the human condition, and he does it in a way very similar to Ecclesiastes. He emphasizes the following about human fate:
– life is short;
– sufferings are countless;
– the grace of youth is followed by the bitterness of adult life;
– there is a degree of impurity in humans, namely, something mysterious which ruins everything they undertake;
– when looking at life, they would like to live forever, which is not granted to them.
While Ecclesiastes accepts the universal law, Job dreams of a God who might talk with him and forget, for a time, his superiority (vv. 15-17).
Here we see one of the results of the teaching that God gave his people for centuries. As the Israelites understood better the alliance that linked them with God, they became more human. Whereas their ancestors like Jacob or Moses were resigned to their mortal destiny, they aspired for something better.
• 13. In 14:13-17 Job mentions the place of the dead, or Sheol, or netherworld, where the Jews thought that, after death, they would have some semblance of life, but would be more like prisoners far from Yahweh than like human beings who are alive and praise God (see Is 38:18-19). When someone has been called and loved by God he can no longer accept that he will disappear forever. And if God were to let him survive in a place not close to God, he would always long to reach God: I would wait for my release, You would call and I would answer you.
In chapters 15–18 everyone proceeds without listening to the other: Job expresses his despair and his friends repeat their conviction that misfortunes are for the wicked.