As waters fail from a lake and a river wastes away and dries up,
English Standard Version (ESV)
It's easy to read this as a simple simile for something drying up and disappearing. But Job might be speaking of something even more final: when waters fail from the sea, or a river decays and dries up, they often don't return to their former places or states, suggesting a permanent loss that mirrors death.
As waters fail from a lake and a river wastes away and dries up,
English Standard Version (ESV)
Job is reflecting on the fleeting nature of human life, contrasting it with things that seem permanent. He paints a picture of vast bodies of water – seas, lakes, and rivers – experiencing complete desiccation, implying that even these immense forces can vanish. This imagery sets the stage for his lament that unlike these drying bodies of water which might somehow be replenished, a deceased person does not return to life.
We see the world around us constantly renewing: rain falls, rivers flow, seasons change. But does this cycle apply to us?
Job uses powerful imagery from the natural world to highlight a stark difference between nature and human life.
The Fleeting Nature of Water
Job points to a lake losing its water or a river drying up. These aren't temporary droughts that are always replenished. The commentaries suggest that this imagery can point to waters exuding or evaporating, or even entire bodies of water ceasing to exist in their former places.
The Irreversible Path of Man
This imagery contrasts sharply with the human condition as Job understands it. Unlike water that might evaporate and return as rain, or a river that might be replenished, when a person 'lies down' in death, they do not 'arise' in this life. The finality of death is emphasized through this comparison. There’s no natural cycle of return for the deceased in the way there is for water.
What does it mean for water to 'fail' or a 'flood' to 'dry up' in the context of human finality?
The ancient commentators wrestled with the precise meaning of the water imagery, but a consistent theme emerges: the lack of return.
More Than a Drought
Some commentaries suggest Job isn't just talking about a temporary drought. He might be describing waters that leave a place and never come back, or a river whose course changes entirely, leaving its old bed dry. This points to a more permanent loss than we might initially assume.
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The Implication of Finality
Whether through evaporation, absorption into the earth, or a complete change in course, the water described does not simply return to its original state or location. This lack of return in nature mirrors the absolute end of earthly life for humanity. Unlike natural phenomena that often renew, death, in Job's perspective here, represents an end to our present existence from which there is no natural revival.
This passage speaks about the natural cycle of water returning to its source, contrasting with Job's sense of finality in death.
Isaiah 19:5This verse describes the drying up of the Nile River, illustrating a catastrophic natural event that parallels Job's view of life's end.
Jeremiah 51:36Here, Babylon's river is described as drying up, serving as a metaphor for a nation's downfall, echoing the theme of powerful forces ceasing.
Job 14:12This immediate follow-up verse directly connects the image of drying waters to the finality of human death, reinforcing the comparison.
clarkeJob 14:11: "As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up:"
The waters fail from the sea - I believe this refers to evaporation, and nothing else. As the waters are evaporated from the sea, and the river in passing over the sandy desert is partly exsiccated, and partly absorbed; and yet the waters of the sea are not exhausted, as these vapors, being condensed, fall down in rain, and by means of rivers return again into the sea: so man is imperceptibly removed from his fe…
bensonJob 14:11: "As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up:"
Job 14:11 . As the waters fail from the sea — This may mean, either, 1st, As the waters go, or flow out from the sea, and return not thither again, Ecclesiastes 1:7 : or, 2d, As waters, that is, some portion of the waters, are exhaled from the sea by the sun, or are received and sunk into the dry and thirsty earth: or, 3d, As the waters of the sea fail, when the sea forsakes the place into which it used to flow;…
It's easy to read this as a simple simile for something drying up and disappearing. But Job might be speaking of something even more final: when waters fail from the sea, or a river decays and dries up, they often don't return to their former places or states, suggesting a permanent loss that mirrors death.
Job is reflecting on the fleeting nature of human life, contrasting it with things that seem permanent. He paints a picture of vast bodies of water – seas, lakes, and rivers – experiencing complete desiccation, implying that even these immense forces can vanish. This imagery sets the stage for his lament that unlike these drying bodies of water which might somehow be replenished, a deceased person does not return to life.
Job is reflecting on the fleeting nature of human life, contrasting it with things that seem permanent. He paints a picture of vast bodies of water – seas, lakes, and rivers – experiencing complete desiccation, implying that even these immense forces can vanish. This imagery sets the stage for his lament that unlike these drying bodies of water which might somehow be replenished, a deceased person does not return to life.
"As waters fail from a lake and a river wastes away and dries up," — It's easy to read this as a simple simile for something drying up and disappearing. But Job might be speaking of something even more final: when waters fail from the sea, or a river decays and dr…
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Last reviewed October 2026