Job 14 · Verse 2

Job 14:2

He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
Job 14:2, King James Version

Job 14:2 in other translations

BSBLike a flower, he comes forth, then withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.
WEBHe grows up like a flower, and is cut down. He also flees like a shadow, and doesn’t continue.
ASVHe cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: He fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
YLTAs a flower he hath gone forth, and is cut off, And he fleeth as a shadow and standeth not.
DARBYHe cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down; and he fleeth as a shadow, and continueth not.
BBEHe comes out like a flower, and is cut down: he goes in flight like a shade, and is never seen again.
WebsterHe cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.

What does Job 14:2 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
2. (Psa 90:6; see on Job 8:9).

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

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 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 (note).

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…

Read the full comment on Job 14:1-6 →

Job 14:2 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.

כְּצִ֣יץke.Tzitzlike a flowerH6731
יָ֭צָאYa.tza'he comes forthH3318
וַיִּמָּ֑לvai.yi.Maland he witheredH5243
וַיִּבְרַ֥חvai.yiv.Rachand he fledH1272
כַּ֝צֵּ֗לka.Tzellike <the> shadowH6738
וְלֹ֣אve.Lo'and notH3808
יַעֲמֽוֹד\׃ya.'a.Modhe remainsH5975

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

Cross references for Job 14:2

  • Isaiah 40:6-8

    The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

  • 1 Peter 1:24

    For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:

  • Job 8:9

    (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow:)

  • Psalms 103:15-16

    As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.

  • 1 Chronicles 29:15

    For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.

  • James 4:14

    Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

  • James 1:10-11

    But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.

  • Psalms 144:4

    Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.

  • Psalms 102:11

    My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass.

  • Psalms 92:12

    The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

  • Ecclesiastes 8:13

    But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God.

  • Job 9:25-26

    Now my days are swifter than a post: they flee away, they see no good. They are passed away as the swift ships: as the eagle that hasteth to the prey.

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
like.
Ps 90:5-9; 92:7,12; 103:15,16; Isa 40:6-8; Jas 1:10,11; 4:14
1Pe 1:24
fleeth.
8:9; 9:25,26; 1Ch 29:15; Ps 102:11; 144:4; Ec 8:13

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.

  • Job 14:3

    And dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and bringest me into judgment with thee?

Read all of Job 14

Job 14:2 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Que sale como una flor y es cortado; y huye como la sombra, y no permanece.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Il sort comme une fleur, et il est fauché; il s’enfuit comme une ombre, et il ne dure pas.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Wie eine Blume kommt er hervor und verwelkt; und er flieht wie der Schatten und hat keinen Bestand.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Qui quasi flos egreditur et conteritur, et fugit velut umbra, et numquam in eodem statu permanet.