Job 14:8

World English Bible

Contextual Overview

⁷ "For there is hope for a tree, If it is cut down, that it will sprout again, That the tender branch of it will not cease. ⁸ Though the root of it grows old in the earth, And the stock of it dies in the ground; ⁹ Yet through the scent of water it will bud, And put forth boughs like a plant. ¹⁰ But man dies, and is laid low. Yes, man gives up the spirit, and where is he? ¹¹ As the waters fail from the sea, And the river wastes and dries up, ¹² So man lies down and doesn't rise; Until the heavens are no more, they shall not awake, Nor be roused out of their sleep. ¹³ "Oh that you would hide me in Sheol, That you would keep me secret, until your wrath is past, That you would appoint me a set time, and remember me! ¹⁴ If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my warfare would I wait, Until my release should come. ¹⁵ You would call, and I would answer you. You would have a desire to the work of your hands.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

die in the ground: Isaiah 26:19, John 12:24, 1 Corinthians 15:36

Cross-References

Genesis 13:10
Lot lifted up his eyes, and saw all the plain of the Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before Yahweh destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of Yahweh, like the land of Egypt, as you go to Zoar.

Genesis 14:2
that they made war with Bera, king of Sodom, and with Birsha, king of Gomorrah, Shinab, king of Admah, and Shemeber, king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar).

Genesis 14:3
All these joined together in the valley of Siddim (the same is the Salt Sea).

Genesis 14:10
Now the valley of Siddim was full of tar pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and they fell there, and those who remained fled to the mountain.

Genesis 19:20
See now, this city is near to flee to, and it is a little one. Oh let me escape there (isn't it a little one?), and my soul will live."

Genesis 19:22
Hurry, escape there, for I can't do anything until you get there." Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Though the root thereof wax old in the earth,.... Lies long there, and is become dry, and seems to be consumed, on which account there may be the less hope of its flourishing:

and the stock thereof die in the ground; which may make it still more improbable; for this is not to be understood with some interpreters y of the stock or trunk of the tree cut down, and lying along on the earth, and in the dust of it; though it may be observed, that even such a stock or trunk, separated from the root, and as it lies along, will sprout again, as particularly in elms: but it may rather mean, since it is said to be "in the ground", that part of the stock or stump left in the ground, from whence the roots part and spread in the earth; and even though this dies, or at least so seems, yet there being still life and vigour in the roots, they send forth suckers.

y So Piscator and Cocceius.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Though the root thereof wax old - Though life becomes almost extinct. The idea is, though the root of the tree be very old, yet it does not become wholly lifeless. It is not like an old man, when life goes out altogether. In the very aged root there will be vitality still; but not so in man.

Though the stock thereof - The stump - literally that which is cut off - גזעוּ geza‛ô. The meaning is, that when the trunk of the tree is cut down and dies altogether, life remains in the root; but when man fails, life is wholly extinct.