Job 14 · Verse 1

Job 14:1

Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.
Job 14:1, King James Version

Job 14:1 in other translations

BSB“Man, who is born of woman, is short of days and full of trouble.
WEB“Man, who is born of a woman, is of few days, and full of trouble.
ASVMan, that is born of a woman, Is of few days, and full of trouble.
YLTMan, born of woman! Of few days, and full of trouble!
DARBYMan, born of woman, is of few days, and full of trouble.
BBEAs for man, the son of woman, his days are short and full of trouble.
WebsterMan that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.

What does Job 14:1 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

Job 14:1-22. Job Passes from His Own to the Common Misery of Mankind.

1. woman--feeble, and in the East looked down upon (Ge 2:21). Man being born of one so frail must be frail himself (Mt 11:11). few days--(Ge 47:9; Psa 90:10). Literally, "short of days." Man is the reverse of full of days and short of trouble.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Introduction

The shortness, misery, and sinfulness of man's life, Job 14:1-4. The unavoidable necessity of death; and the hope of a general resurrection, Job 14:5-15. Job deplores his own state, and the general wretchedness of man, Job 14:16-22. Verse 1 Man - born of a woman - There is a delicacy in the original, not often observed: אדם ילוד אשה Adam yelud ishah, "Adam born of a woman, few of days, and full of tremor." Adam, who did not spring from woman, but was immediately formed by God, had many days, for he lived nine hundred and thirty years; during which time neither sin nor death had multiplied in the earth, as they were found in the days of Job. But the Adam who springs now from woman, in the way of ordinary generation, has very few years. Seventy, on an average, being the highest term, may be well said to be few in days; and all matter of fact shows that they are full of fears and apprehensions, רגז rogez, cares, anxieties, and tremors. He seems born, not indeed to live, but to die; and, by living, he forfeits the title to life.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Job 14:1-6
Job enlarges upon the condition of man, addressing himself also to God. Every man of Adam's fallen race is short-lived. All his show of beauty, happiness, and splendour falls before the stroke of sickness or death, as the flower before the scythe; or passes away like the shadow. How is it possible for a man's conduct to be sinless, when his heart is by nature unclean? Here is a clear proof that Job understood and believed the doctrine of original sin. He seems to have intended it as a plea, why the Lord should not deal with him according to his own works, but according to His mercy and grace. It is determined, in the counsel and decree of God, how long we shall live. Our times are in his hands, the powers of nature act under him; in him we live and move. And it is very useful to reflect seriously on the shortness and uncertainty of human life, and the fading nature of all earthly enjoyments. But it is still more important to look at the cause, and remedy of these evils. Until we are born of the Spirit, no spiritually good thing dwells in us, or can proceed from us. Even the little good in the regenerate is defiled with sin. We should therefore humble ourselves before God, and cast ourselves wholly on the mercy of God, through our Divine Surety. We should daily seek the renewing of the Holy Ghost, and look to heaven as the only place of perfect holiness and happiness.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Job 14:1 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

אָ֭דָם'A.doma human beingH120
יְל֣וּדye.Ludborn ofH3205
אִשָּׁ֑ה'i.Shaha womanH802
קְצַ֥רke.Tzar[is] short ofH7116
יָ֝מִ֗יםya.MimdaysH3117
וּֽשְׂבַֽע\־u.se.va'-and surfeited ofH7649
רֹֽגֶז\׃Ro.gezturmoilH7267

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Job 14:1

  • Job 5:7

    Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.

  • Job 25:4

    How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?

  • Ecclesiastes 2:23

    For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity.

  • Job 7:1

    Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling?

  • Matthew 11:11

    Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

  • Job 7:6

    My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and are spent without hope.

  • Job 15:14

    What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?

  • Job 9:25

    Now my days are swifter than a post: they flee away, they see no good.

  • Genesis 47:9

    And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.

  • Psalms 51:5

    Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

  • Ecclesiastes 2:17

    Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit.

  • Psalms 39:5

    Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1 Job entreats God for favour, by the shortness of life, and certainty of death.
7 He waits for his change.
16 By sin the creature is subject to corruption.

born.
15:14; 25:4; Ps 51:5; Mt 11:11
of few days. Heb. short of days.
7:1,6; 9:25; Ge 47:9; Ps 39:5
full.
5:7; Ec 2:17,23

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Job 14:1

    Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.

  • Job 14:2

    He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.

Read all of Job 14

Job 14:1 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		EL HOMBRE nacido de mujer, corto de días, y harto de sinsabores:
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		L’homme né de femme est de peu de jours et rassasié de trouble;
German
Elberfelder 1871		Der Mensch, vom Weibe geboren, ist kurz an Tagen und mit Unruhe gesättigt.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Homo natus de muliere, brevi vivens tempore, repletur multis miseriis.