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The NET Bible®

Job 14:2

He grows up like a flower and then withers away; he flees like a shadow, and does not remain.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Death;   Life;   Readings, Select;   Thompson Chain Reference - Life;   Life-Death;   Time;   The Topic Concordance - Man;   Sin;   Trouble;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Death, Natural;   Flowers;   Life, Natural;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Flowers;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Death;   Decrees of God;   Greatness of God;   Hypocrisy;   Life;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Flowers;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Shadow;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Flowers;   Job;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Flower;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Flowers;  

Devotionals:

- Daily Light on the Daily Path - Devotion for October 19;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
He blossoms like a flower, then withers;he flees like a shadow and does not last.
Hebrew Names Version
He comes forth like a flower, and is cut down. He also flees like a shadow, and doesn't continue.
King James Version
He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
English Standard Version
He comes out like a flower and withers; he flees like a shadow and continues not.
New Century Version
We grow up like flowers and then dry up and die. We are like a passing shadow that does not last.
Amplified Bible
"Like a flower he comes forth and withers; He also flees like a shadow and does not remain.
New American Standard Bible
"Like a flower he comes out and withers. He also flees like a shadow and does not remain.
World English Bible
He comes forth like a flower, and is cut down. He also flees like a shadow, and doesn't continue.
Geneva Bible (1587)
He shooteth foorth as a flowre, and is cut downe: he vanisheth also as a shadowe, and continueth not.
Legacy Standard Bible
Like a flower he comes forth and withers.He also flees like a shadow and does not stand.
Berean Standard Bible
Like a flower, he comes forth, then withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.
Contemporary English Version
We are flowers that fade and shadows that vanish.
Complete Jewish Bible
He comes up like a flower and withers away, flees like a shadow, doesn't last.
Darby Translation
He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down; and he fleeth as a shadow, and continueth not.
Easy-to-Read Version
Our life is like a flower that grows quickly and then dies away. Our life is like a shadow that is here for a short time and then is gone.
George Lamsa Translation
He comes forth like a flower, and withers and fades away; he flees like a shadow, and continues not.
Good News Translation
We grow and wither as quickly as flowers; we disappear like shadows.
Lexham English Bible
Like a flower he comes up, and he withers away; and he flees like a shadow, but he does not last.
Literal Translation
He comes forth like a flower and withers; he also flees like a shadow and does not stand.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
He cometh vp, and falleth awaye like a floure. He flyeth as it were a shadowe, and neuer continueth in one state.
American Standard Version
He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: He fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
Bible in Basic English
He comes out like a flower, and is cut down: he goes in flight like a shade, and is never seen again.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
He cometh forth like a flower, and withereth; he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
King James Version (1611)
Hee commeth forth like a flower, and is cut downe: he fleeth also, as a shaddow and continueth not.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
He commeth vp, and is cut downe like a floure: He fleeth as it were a shadow, and neuer continueth in one state.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Or he falls like a flower that has bloomed; and he departs like a shadow, and cannot continue.
English Revised Version
He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Which goith out, and is defoulid as a flour; and fleeth as schadewe, and dwellith neuere perfitli in the same staat.
Update Bible Version
He comes forth like a flower, and is cut down: He flees also as a shadow, and does not continue.
Webster's Bible Translation
He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
New King James Version
He comes forth like a flower and fades away; He flees like a shadow and does not continue.
New Living Translation
We blossom like a flower and then wither. Like a passing shadow, we quickly disappear.
New Life Bible
He grows up and dries like a flower. He leaves like a shadow and does not stay.
New Revised Standard
comes up like a flower and withers, flees like a shadow and does not last.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
As a flower, he cometh forth - and fadeth, He fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
Douay-Rheims Bible
Who cometh forth like a flower, and is destroyed, and fleeth as a shadow, and never continueth in the same state.
Revised Standard Version
He comes forth like a flower, and withers; he flees like a shadow, and continues not.
Young's Literal Translation
As a flower he hath gone forth, and is cut off, And he fleeth as a shadow and standeth not.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Like a flower he comes forth and withers. He also flees like a shadow and does not remain.

Contextual Overview

1 "Man, born of woman, lives but a few days, and they are full of trouble. 2 He grows up like a flower and then withers away; he flees like a shadow, and does not remain. 3 Do you fix your eye on such a one? And do you bring me before you for judgment? 4 Who can make a clean thing come from an unclean? No one! 5 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. 6 Look away from him and let him desist, until he fulfills his time like a hired man.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

like: Psalms 90:5-9, Psalms 92:7, Psalms 92:12, Psalms 103:15, Psalms 103:16, Isaiah 40:6-8, James 1:10, James 1:11, James 4:14, 1 Peter 1:24

fleeth: Job 8:9, Job 9:25, Job 9:26, 1 Chronicles 29:15, Psalms 102:11, Psalms 144:4, Ecclesiastes 8:13

Reciprocal: 2 Kings 4:19 - My head Job 4:19 - crushed Psalms 39:5 - Behold Psalms 90:6 - General Psalms 109:23 - gone Ecclesiastes 6:12 - the days of his vain life Isaiah 38:12 - have cut 1 Corinthians 7:29 - the time

Cross-References

Genesis 10:19
and the borders of Canaan extended from Sidon all the way to Gerar as far as Gaza, and all the way to Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.
Genesis 13:10
Lot looked up and saw the whole region of the Jordan. He noticed that all of it was well-watered (before the Lord obliterated Sodom and Gomorrah) like the garden of the Lord , like the land of Egypt, all the way to Zoar.
Genesis 14:9
Kedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of nations, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar. Four kings fought against five.
Genesis 14:10
Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits. When the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell into them, but some survivors fled to the hills.
Genesis 14:20
Worthy of praise is the Most High God, who delivered your enemies into your hand." Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything.
Deuteronomy 29:23
The whole land will be covered with brimstone, salt, and burning debris; it will not be planted nor will it sprout or produce grass. It will resemble the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord destroyed in his intense anger.
Deuteronomy 34:3
the Negev, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of the date palm trees, as far as Zoar.
1 Samuel 13:18
another band turned toward the road leading to Beth Horon; and yet another band turned toward the road leading to the border that overlooks the valley of Zeboim in the direction of the desert.
Nehemiah 11:34
in Hadid, Zeboim, and Neballat,
Isaiah 15:5
My heart cries out because of Moab's plight, and for the fugitives stretched out as far as Zoar and Eglath Shelishiyah. For they weep as they make their way up the ascent of Luhith; they loudly lament their demise on the road to Horonaim.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down,.... As the flower comes from the earth, so does man; as it comes out of the stalk, so man out of his mother's womb; as the flower flourishes for a while, and looks gay and beautiful, so man while in youth, in health and prosperity. Job, doubtless, has respect to his own case before his troubles came upon him, when he was possessed of all that substance, which made him the greatest man of the east; when his children were like olive plants around his table, and his servants at his command, and he in perfect health of body: and as a flower flourishes for a little while, and then withers; no sooner is it come to its full blow, but presently decays; such is the goodliness of man, it fades away whenever God blows a blast upon it; yea, he is easily and quickly cut down by death, like a beautiful flower cut with the knife, or cropped by the hand, or trampled upon by the foot, see Psalms 103:15;

he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not; either as the shadow of the evening, which is lost when night comes on; or the shadow on a dial plate, which is continually moving on; or, as the Jewish Rabbins say, as the shadow of a bird flying, which stays not, whereas the shadow of a wall, or of a tree, continues: a shadow is an empty thing, without substance, dark and obscure, variable and uncertain, declining, fleeting, and passing away; and so fitly resembles the life of a man, which is but a vapour, a bubble, yea, as nothing with God; is full of darkness, of ignorance, and of adversity, very fickle, changeable, and inconstant, and at most but of a short continuance.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

He 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; Psalms 37:2; Psalms 90:6; Psalms 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 tender leaves of hope, tomorrow blossoms,

And bears his blushing honors thick upon him;

The third day comes a frost a killing frost,

And - when he thinks, good easy man, full surely

His greatness is a ripening - nips his root,

And then he falls.

Henry viii. Act iii. Sc. 2.

He fleeth also as a shadow - Another exquisite figure, and as true as it is beautiful. So the Psalmist:

My days are like a shadow that declineth.

Psalms 102:11.

Man is like to vanity;

His days are as a shadowy that passeth away.

Psalms 144:4.

The idea of Job is, that there is no substance, nothing that is permanent. A shadow moves on gently and silently, and is soon gone. It leaves no trace of its being, and returns no more. They who have watched the beautiful shadow of a cloud on a landscape, and have seen how rapidly it passes ever meadows and fields of grain, and rolls up the mountain side and disappears, will have a vivid conception of this figure. How gently yet how rapidly it moves. How soon it is gone. How void of impression is its course. Who can track its way; who can reach it? So man moves on. Soon he is gone; he leaves no trace of his being, and returns no more.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 14:2. He 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. The bloom of youth, even in the most prosperous state, is only the forerunner of hoary hairs, enfeebled muscles, impaired senses, general debility, anility, and dissolution. All these images are finely embodied, and happily expressed, in the beautiful lines of a very nervous and correct poet, too little known, but whose compositions deserve the first place among what may be called the minor poets of Britain. See at the end of the chapter. Job 14:22.


 
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