Job 14 · Verse 12

Job 14:12

So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.
Job 14:12, King James Version

Job 14:12 in other translations

BSBso a man lies down and does not rise. Until the heavens are no more, he will not be awakened or roused from sleep.
WEBso man lies down and doesn’t rise. Until the heavens are no more, they will not awake, nor be roused out of their sleep.
ASVSo man lieth down and riseth not: Till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, Nor be roused out of their sleep.
YLTAnd man hath lain down, and riseth not, Till the wearing out of the heavens they awake not, Nor are roused from their sleep.
DARBYSo man lieth down, and riseth not again; till the heavens be no more, they do not awake, nor are raised out of their sleep.
BBESo man goes down to his last resting-place and comes not again: till the heavens come to an end, they will not be awake or come out of their sleep.
WebsterSo man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens shall be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.

What does Job 14:12 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
12. heavens be no more--This only implies that Job had no hope of living again in the present order of the world, not that he had no hope of life again in a new order of things. Psa 102:26 proves that early under the Old Testament the dissolution of the present earth and heavens was expected (compare Ge 8:22). Enoch before Job had implied that the "saints shall live again" (Jude 14; He 11:13-16). Even if, by this phrase, Job meant "never" (Psa 89:29) in his gloomier state of feelings, yet the Holy Ghost has made him unconsciously (1Pe 1:11, 12) use language expressing the truth, that the resurrection is to be preceded by the dissolution of the heavens. In Job 14:13-15 he plainly passes to brighter hopes of a world to come.

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

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 12 So man lieth down - He falls asleep in his bed of earth. And riseth not - Men shall not, like cut down trees and plants, reproduce their like; nor shall they arise till the heavens are no more, till the earth and all its works are burnt up, and the general resurrection of human beings shall take place. Surely it would be difficult to twist this passage to the denial of the resurrection of the body. Neither can these expressions be fairly understood as implying Job's belief in the materiality of the soul, and that the whole man sleeps from the day of his death to the morning of the resurrection. We have already seen that Job makes a distinction between the animal life and rational soul in man; and it is most certain that the doctrine of the materiality of the soul, and its sleep till the resurrection, has no place in the sacred records. There is a most beautiful passage to the same purpose, and with the same imagery, in Moschus's epitaph on the death of Bion: - Αι, αι ται μαλαχαι μεν επαν κατα καπον ολωνται, Η τα χλωρα σελινα, το τ' ευθαλες ουλον ανηθον, Ὑστερον αυ ζωοντι, και εις ετος αλλο φυοντι· Αμμες δ', οἱ μεγαλοι, και καρτεροι, η σοφοι ανδρες, Ὁπποτε πρωτα θανωμες, ανακοοι εν χθονι κοιλα Εὑδομες ευ μαλα μακρον, ατερμονα, νηγρετον ὑπνον. Idyll. iii., ver. 100. Alas! alas! the mallows, when they die, Or garden herbs, and sweet Anethum's pride, Blooming in vigor, wake again to life, And flourish beauteous through another year: But we, the great, the mighty, and the wise, When once we die, unknown in earth's dark womb Sleep long and drear, the endless sleep of death. J. B. B. C. A more cold and comfortless philosophy was never invented. The next verse shows that Job did not entertain this view of the subject.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Job 14:7-15

Though a tree is cut down, yet, in a moist situation, shoots come forth, and grow up as a newly planted tree. But when man is cut off by death, he is for ever removed from his place in this world. The life of man may fitly be compared to the waters of a land flood, which spread far, but soon dry up. All Job's expressions here show his belief in the great doctrine of the resurrection. Job's friends proving miserable…

Read the full comment on Job 14:7-15 →

Job 14:12 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.

וְאִ֥ישׁve.'Ishand a personH376
שָׁכַ֗בsha.Khavhe lies downH7901
וְֽלֹא\־ve.lo'-and notH3808
יָ֫ק֥וּםya.Kumhe will ariseH6965
עַד\־'ad-untilH5704
בִּלְתִּ֣יbil.Ti[is] notH1115
שָׁ֭מַיִםSha.ma.yimheavenH8064
לֹ֣אlo'notH3808
יָקִ֑יצוּya.Ki.tzuthey will awakeH6974
וְלֹֽא\־ve.lo'-and notH3808
יֵ֝עֹ֗רוּye.'O.ruthey will be rousedH5782
מִשְּׁנָתָֽם\׃mi.she.na.Tamfrom sleep theirH8142

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

Cross references for Job 14:12

  • Job 10:21-22

    Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death; A land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness.

  • Isaiah 26:19

    Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.

  • Ecclesiastes 3:19-21

    For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?

  • Job 3:13

    For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest,

  • 2 Peter 3:10-13

    But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

  • 2 Peter 3:7

    But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

  • Job 30:23

    For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.

  • Matthew 24:35

    Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

  • Revelation 21:1

    And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

  • Isaiah 66:22

    For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain.

  • Daniel 12:2

    And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

  • Revelation 20:11

    And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
So man.
10:21,22; 30:23; Ec 3:19-21; 12:5
till the heavens.
19:25-27; Ps 102:26; Isa 51:6; 65:17; 66:22; Mt 24:35; Ac 3:21
Ro 8:20; 2Pe 3:7,10-13; Re 20:11; 21:1
awake.
3:13; 7:21; Isa 26:19; Da 12:2; Joh 11:11-13; Eph 5:14; 1Th 4:14,15

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

Context

  • Job 14:11

    As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up:

  • Job 14:12

    So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.

  • Job 14:13

    O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!

Read all of Job 14

Job 14:12 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Así el hombre yace, y no se tornará á levantar: hasta que no haya cielo no despertarán, ni se levantarán de su sueño.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Ainsi l’homme se couche et ne se relève pas: jusqu’à ce qu’il n’y ait plus de cieux, ils ne s’éveillent pas, et ils ne se réveillent pas de leur sommeil.
German
Elberfelder 1871		so legt der Mensch sich hin und steht nicht wieder auf; bis die Himmel nicht mehr sind, erwachen sie nicht und werden nicht aufgeweckt aus ihrem Schlafe.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		sic homo, cum dormierit, non resurget: donec atteratur cælum, non evigilabit, nec consurget de somno suo.