The Hebrew word translated as "trouble" here carries a sense of inner turmoil, agitation, and apprehension, not just external hardship. This highlights that life's difficulties aren't just events that happen to us, but deeply felt anxieties that characterize the human experience from birth.
“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. And do you open your eyes on such a one and bring me into judgment with you? Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one.
English Standard Version (ESV)
Job, having endured immense suffering and argued with his friends, now shifts his focus from his own predicament to the universal human condition. He reflects that life, from its very beginning as a child born of a frail mother, is inherently short and fraught with hardship, a stark contrast to the permanence he might wish for or the judgment he anticipates.
Job kicks off this chapter with a stark observation about humanity. It’s not just about a bad day; it’s about the fundamental nature of being human.
The 'Born of a Woman' Reality
Job begins by saying, "Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble." This isn't just a poetic lament; it points to our inherent condition.
Job contrasts human life with something more enduring, emphasizing just how brief our time on Earth truly is.
The Fleeting Nature of Days
The verse declares that humans are "few of days." This isn't just a subjective feeling; it's a profound truth about the limited duration of our earthly existence.
Ask a follow-up
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.
mishpat · Hebrew Noun
A legal term referring to a judicial investigation, trial, or sentence. In a theological sense, it often denotes God's evaluation of a person's life or moral standing.
tahor · Hebrew Adjective
State of being free from moral or ritual impurity; in a theological sense, it refers to righteousness or moral purity that satisfies God’s holy standard.
tame · Hebrew Adjective
The state of being morally impure, defiled, or corrupt; typically used in the Bible to describe human nature in its fallen condition apart from divine grace.
This verse echoes Job's sentiment by stating the typical human lifespan is seventy years, or eighty for exceptional strength, but these years are filled with toil and sorrow, emphasizing the brevity and difficulty of life.
Ecclesiastes 1:2The Preacher's declaration, 'Vanity of vanities; all is vanity,' directly parallels Job's lament about the transient and often troublesome nature of human existence, calling life 'a vapor' and 'fleeting'.
James 4:14James uses the metaphor of life being like 'a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes,' powerfully illustrating the same theme of human life's brevity and unpredictability found in Job's words.
Genesis 47:9Jacob's response to Pharaoh, describing his life as 'few and evil days,' confirms Job's assertion that even a full life, by ancient standards, was marked by hardship and felt short.
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 Hebrew word translated as "trouble" here carries a sense of inner turmoil, agitation, and apprehension, not just external hardship. This highlights that life's difficulties aren't just events that happen to us, but deeply felt anxieties that characterize the human experience from birth.
Job, having endured immense suffering and argued with his friends, now shifts his focus from his own predicament to the universal human condition. He reflects that life, from its very beginning as a child born of a frail mother, is inherently short and fraught with hardship, a stark contrast to the permanence he might wish for or the judgment he anticipates.
Job, having endured immense suffering and argued with his friends, now shifts his focus from his own predicament to the universal human condition. He reflects that life, from its very beginning as a child born of a frail mother, is inherently short and fraught with hardship, a stark contrast to the permanence he might wish for or the judgment he anticipates.
"“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. And do you open your eyes on such a one and bring me into judgment wi…" — The Hebrew word translated as "trouble" here carries a sense of inner turmoil, agitation, and apprehension, not just external hardship. This highlights that life's difficulties aren't just events tha…
Get the original Greek and Hebrew, verse-by-verse context, and related passages inside the app.
Last reviewed October 2026
