Job 14:7

Translations

King James Version (KJV)

For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.

American King James Version (AKJV)

For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.

American Standard Version (ASV)

For there is hope of a tree, If it be cut down, that it will sprout again, And that the tender branch thereof will not cease.

Basic English Translation (BBE)

For there is hope of a tree; if it is cut down, it will come to life again, and its branches will not come to an end.

Webster's Revision

For there is hope of a tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its tender branch will not cease.

World English Bible

"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.

English Revised Version (ERV)

For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.

Clarke's Job 14:7 Bible Commentary

For there is hope of a tree - We must not, says Calmet, understand this of an old tree, the stem and roots of which are dried up and rotted: but there are some trees which grow from cuttings, and some which, though pulled out of the earth, and having had their roots dried and withered by long exposure to the sun and wind, will, on being replanted, take root and resume their verdure. There are also certain trees, the fibres of which are so solid, that if after several years they be steeped in water, they resume their vigor, the tubes dilate, and the blossoms or flowers which were attached to them expand; as I have often witnessed in what is called the rose of Jericho. There are few trees which will not send forth new shoots, when the stock is cut down level with the earth.

Barnes's Job 14:7 Bible Commentary

For there is hope of a tree - This passage to Job 14:12, is one of exquisite beauty. Its object is to state reasons why man should be permitted to enjoy this life. A tree, if cut down, might spring up again and flourish; but not man. He died to rise no more; he is cut down and lives not again. The passage is important as expressing the prevalent sentiment of the time in which Job 54ed about the future condition of man, and is one that deserves a close examination. The great question is, whether Job believed in the future state, or in the resurrection of the dead? On this question one or two things are clear at the outset.

(1) He did not believe that man would spring up from the grave in any sense similar to the mode in which the sprout or germ of a tree grows up when the tree is cut down.

(2) He did not believe in the doctrine of metempsychosis, or transmigration of souls; a doctrine that was so common among the ancients.

In this respect the patriarchal religion stood aloof from the systems of paganism, and there is not to be found, that I know of, any expression that would lead us to suppose that they had ever embraced it, or had even heard of it. The general sentiment here is, that if a tree is cut down, it may be expected to shoot up again, and another tree will be found in its place - as is the case with the chestnut, the willow, the oak. But Job says that there was nothing like this to happen to man. There was no root, no germ, no seminal principle from which he would be made to live again on the earth. He was to be finally cut off, from all his pleasures and his friends here, and to go away to return no more. Still, that Job believed in his continued existence beyond the grave - his existence in the dark and gloomy world of shades, is apparent from the whole book, and indeed from the very passage before us; see Job 14:13 - compare Job 10:21-22. The image here is one that is very beautiful, and one that is often employed by poets. Thus, Moschus, in his third Idyl, as translated by Gisborne:

The meanest herb we trample in the field,

Or in the garden nurture, when its leaf

At winter's touch is blasted, and its place

Forgotten, soon its vernal bud renews,

And from short slumber wakes to life again.

Man wakes no more! Man, valiant, glorious, wise,

When death once chills him, sinks in sleep profound.

A long, unconscious, never-ending sleep.

See also Beattie's Hermit:

'Tis night, and the landscape is lovely no more;

continued...

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