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Good News Translation

Job 14:5

The length of our lives is decided beforehand— the number of months we will live. You have settled it, and it can't be changed.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Death;   Readings, Select;   The Topic Concordance - Man;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Death, Natural;   Life, Natural;  

Dictionaries:

- Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Death, Mortality;   Providence of God;   Time;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Decrees of God;   Greatness of God;   Hypocrisy;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Job;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Bounds;   Determine;   Foreknow;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Providence;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Since a person’s days are determinedand the number of his months depends on you,and since you have set limits he cannot pass,
Hebrew Names Version
Seeing his days are determined, The number of his months is with you, And you have appointed his bounds that he can't pass;
King James Version
Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;
English Standard Version
Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass,
New Century Version
Our time is limited. You have given us only so many months to live and have set limits we cannot go beyond.
New English Translation
Since man's days are determined, the number of his months is under your control; you have set his limit and he cannot pass it.
Amplified Bible
"Since his days are determined, The number of his months is with You [in Your control], And You have made his limits so he cannot pass [his allotted time].
New American Standard Bible
"Since his days are determined, The number of his months is with You; And You have set his limits so that he cannot pass.
World English Bible
Seeing his days are determined, The number of his months is with you, And you have appointed his bounds that he can't pass;
Geneva Bible (1587)
Are not his dayes determined? the nober of his moneths are with thee: thou hast appointed his boundes, which he can not passe.
Legacy Standard Bible
Since his days are determined,The number of his months is with You;And his limits You have set so that he cannot pass.
Berean Standard Bible
Since his days are determined and the number of his months is with You, and since You have set limits that he cannot exceed,
Contemporary English Version
Our time on earth is brief; the number of our days is already decided by you.
Complete Jewish Bible
Since his days are fixed in advance, the number of his months is known to you, and you have fixed the limits which he can't cross;
Darby Translation
If his days are determined, if the number of his months is with thee, [and] thou hast appointed his bounds which he must not pass,
Easy-to-Read Version
The length of our life has been decided. You alone know how long that is. You have set the limits for us and nothing can change them.
George Lamsa Translation
Seeing his days are determined and the number of his months are decreed, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot trespass them;
Lexham English Bible
If his days are determined, the number of his months is with you; you have appointed his boundaries, and he cannot cross them.
Literal Translation
Since his days are fixed, the number of his months is with You, and You have appointed his bounds, and he cannot pass over;
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
The dayes of man are shorte, ye nombre of his monethes are knowne only vnto the. Thou hast apoynted him his boundes, he can not go beyonde them.
American Standard Version
Seeing his days are determined, The number of his months is with thee, And thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;
Bible in Basic English
If his days are ordered, and you have knowledge of the number of his months, having given him a fixed limit past which he may not go;
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months is with Thee, and Thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;
King James Version (1611)
Seeing his daies are determined, the number of his moneths are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot passe.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
The dayes of man surely are determined, the number of his monethes are knowen onely vnto thee, thou hast appoynted him his bondes which he can not go beyonde.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
if even his life should be but one day upon the earth: and his months are numbered by him: thou hast appointed him for a time, and he shall by no means exceed it.
English Revised Version
Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months is with thee, and thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
The daies of man ben schorte, the noumbre of his monethis is at thee; thou hast set, ethir ordeyned, hise termes, whiche moun not be passid.
Update Bible Version
Seeing his days are determined, The number of his months is with you, And you have appointed his bounds that he can't pass;
Webster's Bible Translation
Seeing his days [are] determined, the number of his months [is] with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;
New King James Version
Since his days are determined, The number of his months is with You; You have appointed his limits, so that he cannot pass.
New Living Translation
You have decided the length of our lives. You know how many months we will live, and we are not given a minute longer.
New Life Bible
A man's days are numbered. You know the number of his months. He cannot live longer than the time You have set.
New Revised Standard
Since their days are determined, and the number of their months is known to you, and you have appointed the bounds that they cannot pass,
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
If determined am his days, the number of his months, is with thee, Fixed times for him, thou hast appointed and he cannot go beyond.
Douay-Rheims Bible
The days of man are short, and the number of his months is with thee: thou hast appointed his bounds which cannot be passed.
Revised Standard Version
Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with thee, and thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass,
Young's Literal Translation
If determined are his days, The number of his months [are] with Thee, His limit Thou hast made, And he passeth not over;
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Since his days are determined, The number of his months is with You; And his limits You have set so that he cannot pass.

Contextual Overview

1 We are all born weak and helpless. All lead the same short, troubled life. 2 We grow and wither as quickly as flowers; we disappear like shadows. 3 Will you even look at me, God, or put me on trial and judge me? 4 Nothing clean can ever come from anything as unclean as human beings. 5 The length of our lives is decided beforehand— the number of months we will live. You have settled it, and it can't be changed. 6 Look away from us and leave us alone; let us enjoy our hard life—if we can.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

his days: Job 14:14, Job 7:1, Job 12:10, Psalms 39:4, Daniel 5:26, Daniel 5:30, Daniel 9:24, Daniel 11:36, Luke 12:20, Acts 17:26, Hebrews 9:27

the number: Job 21:21

thou hast: Job 23:13, Job 23:14, Psalms 104:9, Psalms 104:29, Daniel 4:35, Revelation 1:18, Revelation 3:7

Reciprocal: 1 Samuel 26:10 - his day Job 16:22 - a few years Job 30:23 - the house Psalms 39:13 - spare Ecclesiastes 3:2 - and a time Ecclesiastes 8:8 - is no Isaiah 38:5 - I will

Cross-References

Genesis 14:10
The valley was full of tar pits, and when the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah tried to run away from the battle, they fell into the pits; but the other three kings escaped to the mountains.
Genesis 14:11
The four kings took everything in Sodom and Gomorrah, including the food, and went away.
Genesis 14:20
May the Most High God, who gave you victory over your enemies, be praised!" And Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of all the loot he had recovered.
Genesis 14:23
that I will not keep anything of yours, not even a thread or a sandal strap. Then you can never say, ‘I am the one who made Abram rich.'
Genesis 15:20
the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,
Deuteronomy 1:4
This was after the Lord had defeated King Sihon of the Amorites, who ruled in the town of Heshbon, and King Og of Bashan, who ruled in the towns of Ashtaroth and Edrei.
Deuteronomy 3:11
(King Og was the last of the Rephaim. His coffin, made of stone, was six feet wide and almost fourteen feet long, according to standard measurements. It can still be seen in the Ammonite city of Rabbah.)
Deuteronomy 3:20
Help the other Israelites until they occupy the land that the Lord is giving them west of the Jordan and until the Lord lets them live there in peace, as he has already done here for you. After that, you may return to this land that I have assigned to you.'
Deuteronomy 3:22
Don't be afraid of them, for the Lord your God will fight for you.'
Joshua 12:4
They also defeated King Og of Bashan, who was one of the last of the Rephaim; he ruled at Ashtaroth and Edrei.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Seeing his days [are] determined,.... Or "cut out" i, exactly and precisely, how many he shall live, and what shall befall him every day of his life; whose life, because of the shortness of it, is rather measured by days than vents:

the number of his months [are] with thee; before him, in his sight, in his account, and fixed and settled by him:

thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass; the boundaries of his life the period of his days, beyond which he cannot go; the term of man's life is so peremptorily fixed by God, that he cannot die sooner, nor live longer, than he has determined he should; as the time of a man's birth, so the time of his death is according to the purpose of God; and all intervening moments and articles of time, and all things that befall a man throughout the whole course of his life, all fall under the appointment of God, and are according to his determinate will; and when God requires of man his soul, no one has power over his spirit to retain it one moment; yet this hinders not the use of means for the preservation and comfort of life, since these are settled as well as the end, and are under the divine direction: the word for bounds signifies sometimes "statutes" k: though not to be understood of laws appointed by God, either of a moral or ceremonial nature; but here it signifies set, stated, appointed times l Seneca m says the same thing;

"there is a boundary fixed for every man, which always remains where it is set, nor can any move it forward by any means whatsoever.''

i חרוצים "exacte praefiniti sunt", Tigurine version. k חקו "statuta ejus", V. L. Mercerus, Schmidt. l "Stata tempora", Beza. m Consolat. ad Marciam, c. 20.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Seeing his days - are “determined” Since man is so frail, and so short-lived, let him alone, that he may pass his little time with some degree of comfort and then die; see the notes at Job 7:19-21. The word “determined” here means “fixed, settled.” God has fixed the number of his days, so that they cannot be exceeded; compare the notes at Isaiah 10:23, and notes at Psalms 90:10.

The number of his months are with thee - Thou hast the ordering of them, or they are determined by thee.

Thou hast appointed his bounds - Thou hast fixed a limit, or hast determined the time which he is to live, and he cannot go beyond it. There is no elixir of life that can prolong our days beyond that period. Soon we shall come to that outer limit of life, and then we must die. When that is we know not, and it is not desirable to know. It is better that it should be concealed. If we knew that it was near, it would fill us with gloom, and deter us from the efforts and the plans of life altogether. If it were remote, we should be careless and secure, and should think there was time enough yet to prepare to die. As it is, we know that the period is not very far distant; we know not but that it may be very near at hand, and we would be always ready.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 14:5. Seeing his days are determined — The general term of human life is fixed by God himself; in vain are all attempts to prolong it beyond this term. Several attempts have been made in all nations to find an elixir that would expel all the seeds of disease, and keep men in continual health; but all these attempts have failed. Basil, Valentine, Norton, Dastin, Ripley, Sandivogius, Artephius, Geber, Van Helmont, Paracelsus, Philalethes, and several others, both in Europe and Asia, have written copiously on the subject, and have endeavoured to prove that a tincture might be produced, by which all imperfect metals may be transmuted into perfect; and an elixir by which the human body may be kept in a state of endless repair and health. And these profess to teach the method by which this tincture and this elixir may be made! Yet all these are dead; and dead, for aught we know, comparatively young! Artephius is, indeed, said to have lived ninety years, which is probable; but some of his foolish disciples, to give credit to their thriftless craft, added another cipher, and made his age nine hundred! Man may endeavour to pass the bound; and God may, here and there, produce a Thomas Parr, who died in 1635, aged one hundred and fifty-two; and a Henry Jenkins, who died in 1670, aged one hundred and sixty-nine; but these are rare instances, and do not affect the general term. Nor can death be avoided. Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return, is the law, and that will ever render nugatory all such pretended tinctures and elixirs.

But, although man cannot pass his appointed bounds, yet he may so live as never to reach them; for folly and wickedness abridge the term of human life; and therefore the psalmist says, Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out HALF their days, Psalms 55:23, for by indolence, intemperance, and disorderly passions, the life of man is shortened in cases innumerable. We are not to understand the bounds as applying to individuals, but to the race in general. Perhaps there is no case in which God has determined absolutely that man's age shall be so long, and shall neither be more nor less. The contrary supposition involves innumerable absurdities.


 
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