Job 14:1-2
“Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble. He comes out like a flower and withers; he flees like a shadow and continues not.
English Standard Version (ESV)
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The phrase "born of a woman" isn't just a statement of fact; it's a subtle reminder of our inherent frailty, linking human weakness directly to our very origin. This sets the stage for understanding that a life beginning with such delicate beginnings is naturally destined to be short and burdened.
Job has just finished defending himself against his friends, feeling misunderstood and unjustly accused. Now, he shifts from his personal suffering to a broader lament about the fragility and inherent difficulty of human existence, suggesting that life itself, regardless of specific afflictions, is a brief, troubled journey. This sets the stage for a deeper exploration of mortality, the nature of life and death, and Job's hope for a future reckoning.
Understand the original words
adam · Hebrew Noun
General term for humanity, often emphasizing the frailty, mortality, and physical nature of humans as distinct from God.
rogez · Hebrew Noun
A state of distress, suffering, agitation, or toil; often used to describe the painful consequences of the fall or the inherent difficulties of life in a fallen world.
This Psalm directly echoes Job's sentiment, describing human life as seventy years, or eighty for exceptional strength, but emphasizes that these years are filled with labor and sorrow, highlighting the brevity and hardship of our days.
Genesis 47:9When Pharaoh asks Jacob for his age, Jacob's response, 'few and evil have the days of the years of my life been,' mirrors Job's lament, showing that even in antiquity, life was perceived as short and fraught with difficulty.
Ecclesiastes 1:2The Preacher's declaration, 'Vanity of vanities; all is vanity,' sets a tone of profound existential weariness that resonates with Job's feeling that human life is ultimately fleeting and burdensome.
1 Corinthians 15:19Paul's statement that if our hope in Christ is only for this life, then 'we are of all men most to be pitied,' underscores the inherent suffering and limitations of earthly existence apart from eternal hope.
jfbJob 14:1: "Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble."
CHAPTER 14Job 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; Ps 90:10). Literally, "short of days." Man is the reverse of full of days and short of trouble.
clarkeJob 14:1: "Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble."
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…
The phrase "born of a woman" isn't just a statement of fact; it's a subtle reminder of our inherent frailty, linking human weakness directly to our very origin. This sets the stage for understanding that a life beginning with such delicate beginnings is naturally destined to be short and burdened.
Job has just finished defending himself against his friends, feeling misunderstood and unjustly accused. Now, he shifts from his personal suffering to a broader lament about the fragility and inherent difficulty of human existence, suggesting that life itself, regardless of specific afflictions, is a brief, troubled journey. This sets the stage for a deeper exploration of mortality, the nature of life and death, and Job's hope for a future reckoning.
Job has just finished defending himself against his friends, feeling misunderstood and unjustly accused. Now, he shifts from his personal suffering to a broader lament about the fragility and inherent difficulty of human existence, suggesting that life itself, regardless of specific afflictions, is a brief, troubled journey. This sets the stage for a deeper exploration of mortality, the nature of life and death, and Job's hope for a future reckoning.
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"“Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble. He comes out like a flower and withers; he flees like a shadow and continues not." — The phrase "born of a woman" isn't just a statement of fact; it's a subtle reminder of our inherent frailty, linking human weakness directly to our very origin. This sets the stage for understanding…
