12 so man lies down and doesn’t rise. Until the heavens are no more, they will not awake, nor be roused out of their sleep.
13 “Oh that you would hide me in Sheol, that you would keep me secret until your wrath is past, that you would appoint me a set time and remember me!
14 If a man dies, will he live again? I would wait all the days of my warfare, until my release should come.
15 You would call, and I would answer you. You would have a desire for the work of your hands.
KJVKing James Version
12 So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.
13 O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!
14 If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.
15 Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands.
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JPSJPS Tanakh (1917)
12 So man lieth down and riseth not; till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be roused out of their sleep.
13 Oh that Thou wouldest hide me in the nether-world, that Thou wouldest keep me secret, until Thy wrath be past, that Thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me! —
14 If a man die, may he live again? All the days of my service would I wait, till my relief should come —
15 Thou wouldest call, and I would answer Thee; Thou wouldest have a desire to the work of Thy hands.
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Is death final?The Hebrew Bible's wisdom literature and older narrative strata treat death as terminal — the dead go to Sheol, lose consciousness, and do not return.
Does hell exist?The Bible offers four mutually incompatible afterlife schemes.
1 Corinthians 15:51-52(v14)Behold, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last…
Job 7:1(v14)“Isn’t a man forced to labor on earth? Aren’t his days like the days of a hired hand?
Psalms 27:14(v14)Wait for Yahweh. Be strong, and let your heart take courage. Yes, wait for Yahweh.
Acts 26:8(v14)Why is it judged incredible with you, if God does raise the dead?
Job 10:21-22(v12)before I go where I will not return from, to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death; the land dark as midnight, of the shadow of…
Show all 59 cross-references
Job 13:15(v14)Behold, he will kill me. I have no hope. Nevertheless, I will maintain my ways before him.
Job 14:5(v14)Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his bounds that he can’t pass;
John 5:28-29(v14)Don’t marvel at this, for the hour comes in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice, and will come out; those who have done…
Philippians 3:21(v14)who will change the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of his glory, according to the working by which he is able even to…
Revelation 20:13(v14)The sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them. They were judged, each one according to his…
Job 3:13(v12)For now should I have lain down and been quiet. I should have slept, then I would have been at rest,
Job 13:22(v15)Then call, and I will answer, or let me speak, and you answer me.
Job 42:16(v14)After this Job lived one hundred forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, to four generations.
Psalms 40:1-2(v14)I waited patiently for Yahweh. He turned to me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay. He set…
Psalms 138:8(v15)Yahweh will fulfill that which concerns me. Your loving kindness, Yahweh, endures forever. Don’t forsake the works of your own hands.
Ecclesiastes 3:19-21(v12)For that which happens to the sons of men happens to animals. Even one thing happens to them. As the one dies, so the other dies. Yes, they…
Lamentations 3:25-26(v14)Yahweh is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation…
Ezekiel 37:1-14(v14)Yahweh’s hand was on me, and he brought me out in Yahweh’s Spirit, and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones.…
Matthew 22:29-32(v14)But Jesus answered them, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry,…
1 Corinthians 15:42-44(v14)So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown perishable; it is raised imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in…
James 5:7-8(v14)Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient…
Job 19:25-26(v14)But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. In the end, he will stand upon the earth. After my skin is destroyed, then I will see God in…
Isaiah 26:19(v12)Your dead shall live. My dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust; for your dew is like the dew of herbs, and the…
2 Peter 3:10-13(v12)But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be…
Job 7:21(vv12, 15)Why do you not pardon my disobedience, and take away my iniquity? For now will I lie down in the dust. You will seek me diligently, but I…
Job 10:3(v15)Is it good to you that you should oppress, that you should despise the work of your hands, and smile on the counsel of the wicked?
Job 10:8(v15)“ ‘Your hands have framed me and fashioned me altogether, yet you destroy me.
Job 30:23(v12)For I know that you will bring me to death, To the house appointed for all living.
Isaiah 26:20-21(v13)Come, my people, enter into your rooms, and shut your doors behind you. Hide yourself for a little moment, until the indignation is past.…
Isaiah 57:1-2(v13)The righteous perish, and no one lays it to heart. Merciful men are taken away, and no one considers that the righteous is taken away from…
Mark 13:32(v13)But of that day or that hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
1 Thessalonians 4:14-16(v14)For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we tell…
1 Peter 4:19(v15)Therefore let them also who suffer according to the will of God in doing good entrust their souls to him, as to a faithful Creator.
Genesis 8:1(v13)God remembered Noah, all the animals, and all the livestock that were with him in the ship; and God made a wind to pass over the earth. The…
Job 3:17-19(v13)There the wicked cease from troubling. There the weary are at rest. There the prisoners are at ease together. They don’t hear the voice of…
Job 19:25-27(v12)But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. In the end, he will stand upon the earth. After my skin is destroyed, then I will see God in…
Psalms 102:26(v12)They will perish, but you will endure. Yes, all of them will wear out like a garment. You will change them like a cloak, and they will be…
Psalms 106:4(v13)Remember me, Yahweh, with the favor that you show to your people. Visit me with your salvation,
Ecclesiastes 12:5(v12)yes, they shall be afraid of heights, and terrors will be on the way; and the almond tree shall blossom, and the grasshopper shall be a…
Isaiah 12:1(v13)In that day you will say, “I will give thanks to you, Yahweh; for though you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you comfort…
Isaiah 51:6(v12)Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens will vanish away like smoke, and the earth will wear out…
Isaiah 65:17(v12)“For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be remembered, nor come into mind.
Isaiah 66:22(v12)“For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me,” says Yahweh, “so your offspring and your name shall…
Daniel 12:2(v12)Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
Matthew 24:35(v12)Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
Luke 23:42(v13)He said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”
Acts 1:7(v13)He said to them, “It isn’t for you to know times or seasons which the Father has set within his own authority.
Acts 3:21(v12)whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God spoke long ago by the mouth of his holy prophets.
Acts 17:31(v13)because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained; of which he has given…
Ephesians 5:14(v12)Therefore he says, “Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
1 Thessalonians 4:14-15(v12)For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we tell…
2 Peter 3:7(v12)But the heavens that exist now and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and…
1 John 2:28(v15)Now, little children, remain in him, that when he appears, we may have boldness, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
Revelation 20:11(v12)I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. There was found no place for them.
Revelation 21:1(v12)I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away, and the sea is no more.
Psalms 50:4-5(v15)He calls to the heavens above, to the earth, that he may judge his people: “Gather my saints together to me, those who have made a covenant…
1 Thessalonians 4:17(v15)then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. So we will be with…
John 11:11-13(v12)He said these things, and after that, he said to them, “Our friend, Lazarus, has fallen asleep, but I am going so that I may awake him out…
Romans 8:20(v12)For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, in hope
59 distinct cross-references across this passage (60 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (20 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv13–15Hereby he declareth that the fear of God’s judgment…
Hereby he declareth that the fear of God’s judgment was the cause why he desired to die.
That is, release my pains and take me to mercy.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv12–15Job 14:12 So man lieth down, and riseth not:…
Job 14:12 So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens [be] no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.
Ver. 12. So man lieth down] sc. In the dust of death, or in the bed of the grave; his dormitory, till the last day.
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Ut somnus morris, sic lectus imago sepulchri.
And riseth not] sc. To live again among men. So, Psa 78:39, man is compared to a wind, which, when it is past, returneth not again. If it be objected, that we read of three in the Old Testament, and five in the New, raised from death to life; besides those many that arose and came out of the graves after Christ’s resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many, Mat 27:52-53; it is answered, 1. These few raised by God’s extraordinary power do not infringe the truth of what the Scripture here and elsewhere affirmeth of all mankind according to the ordinary course of nature. 2. Even those men also afterwards died again, and vanished, no more to return or appear again in this world.
Till the heavens be no more] i.e. Never (say some interpreters), to wit, vi sua, by his own strength, and to a better condition in the land of the living; so the word "until" is used, 2Sa 6:13 Mat 5:26; Mat 1:25, ut pie credimus. How sound and clear Job was in the point of the resurrection we shall see, Job 19:26, and because he falls upon it in the words next following here, some understand these words thus: They shall not rise till the general resurrections, when these heavens shall be changed and renewed, Psa 102:25-26 Isa 65:17 2Pe 3:7; 2Pe 3:10-11 Rev 21:1.
They shall not awake] Out of the sleep of death;
nor be raised] viz. By the sound of the last trump, till the last day. But raised they shall be, and sleep no more, viz. when the heavens shall be no more. And till that time the bodies of the saints are laid in the grave, as in a bed of down, or of spices, to mellow and ripen. This is matter of joy and triumph, Isa 26:19 Dan 12:2, when they were to lose all: so Heb 11:35. The wicked also sleep in the grave, Dan 12:2, but shall awake to everlasting shame and contempt, ib.; their sick sleep shall have a woeful waking, for they shall be raised by virtue of Christ’s judiciary power, and by the curse of the law, to look upon him whom they have pierced, and to hear from him that dreadful Discedite, "Depart, ye cursed," &c.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv12–15Man lieth down, to wit, in his bed, the…
Man lieth down, to wit, in his bed, the grave, or to sleep the sleep of death, as this phrase is used, Gen 46:30; Deu 31:6; 2Sa 7:12; 1Ki 1:21.
Riseth not, to wit, to tills life; for he speaks not here of the life to come, nor of the resurrection of the belly after death by the Divine power; of his belief whereof he giveth sufficient evidences in divers places.
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Till the heavens be no more, i.e. either,
1. Never; because the heavens, though they shall be changed in their qualities, yet shall never cease to be, as to the substance of them. And therefore everlasting and unchangeable things are expressed by the duration of the heavens; of which see Psa 72:5,7,17; 89:29,36,37; Mt 5:18; 24:35. Or,
2. Not until the time of the general resurrection, and the restitution of things, when these visible heavens shall pass away, and be no more, at least in the same form and manner as now they are; of which see Psa 102:26; Luk 21:33; 2Pe 3:7,10; Re 21:1.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv12–15So man lieth down,.... Or "and", or "but man…
So man lieth down,.... Or "and", or "but man lieth down" (b); in the grave when he dies, as on a bed, and takes his rest from all his labours, toil and troubles, and lies asleep, and continues so till the resurrection morn:
and riseth not; from off his bed, or comes not out of his grave into this world, to the place where he was, and to be engaged in the affairs of life he was before, and never by his own power; and whenever he will rise, it will be by the power of God, and this not till the last day, when Christ shall appear in person to judge the world; and then the dead in Christ will rise first, at the beginning of the thousand years, and the wicked at the end of them:
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till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep; for so the words are to be read, not in connection with those that go before, but with the last clauses; though the sense is much the same either way, which is, that those who are fallen asleep by death, and lie sleeping in their graves, and on their beds, these shall neither awake of themselves, nor be awaked by others, "till the heavens be no more"; that is, never, so as to awake and arise of themselves, and to this natural life, and to be concerned in the business of it; which sometimes seems to be the sense of this phrase, see Psa 89:29, Mat 5:18; or, as some render it, "till the heavens are wore out", or "waxen old" (c); as they will like a garment, and be folded up, and laid aside, as to their present use, Psa 102:26; or till they shall vanish away, and be no more, as to their present form, quality, and use, though they may exist as to substance; and when this will be the case, as it will be when the Judge shall appear, when Christ shall come a second time to judge the world; then the earth and heaven will flee away from his face, the earth and its works shall be burnt up, and the heavens shall pass away with great noise; and then, and not till then, will the dead, or those that are asleep in their graves, be awaked by the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God, and they shall be raised from their sleepy beds, awake and arise, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
(b) "et vir", Pagninus, Montanus, Beza, Schmidt; "at vir", Cocceius. (c) "donec atteratur eoelum", V. L. so some in Bar Tzemach, though disapproved of by him as ungrammatical.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv12–15Lieth - In his bed, the grave. 'Till -…
Lieth - In his bed, the grave. 'Till - Until the time of the general resurrection, when these visible heavens shall pass away.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv12–15Verse 12. So man lieth down] He falls asleep…
Verse 12. So man lieth down] He falls asleep in his bed of earth.
And riseth not] Men shall not, like cut down trees and plants, reproduce their like; nor shall they arise till the heavens are no more, till the earth and all its works are burnt up, and the general resurrection of human beings shall take place. Surely it would be difficult to twist this passage to the denial of the resurrection of the body. Neither can these expressions be fairly understood as implying Job's belief in the materiality of the soul, and that the whole man sleeps from the day of his death to the morning of the resurrection. We have already seen that Job makes a distinction between the animal life and rational soul in man; and it is most certain that the doctrine of the materiality of the soul, and its sleep till the resurrection, has no place in the sacred records. There is a most beautiful passage to the same purpose, and with the same imagery, in Moschus's epitaph on the death of Bion: -
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Αι, αι ται μαλαχαι μεν επαν κατα καπον ολωνται,
Η τα χλωρα σελινα, το τ' ευθαλες ουλον ανηθον,
Ὑστερον αυ ζωοντι, και εις ετος αλλο φυοντι·
Αμμες δ', οἱ μεγαλοι, και καρτεροι, η σοφοι ανδρες,
A more cold and comfortless philosophy was never invented. The next verse shows that Job did not entertain this view of the subject.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn vv12–15Job 14:12. So man lieth down — In his…
Job 14:12. So man lieth down — In his bed the grave, sleeping the sleep of death. And riseth not till the heavens be no more — That is, until the time of the general resurrection and restitution of all things, when these visible heavens shall pass away, and be no more, at least in the same form in which they are now. This whole paragraph is interpreted in a somewhat different way by a late writer. “After a tree is cut down, we see, nevertheless, the old stock flourish again, and send forth new branches; and shall man then, when he once expires, he extinct for ever? Is there no hope that he shall revive, and be raised again hereafter? Yes, there is, according to the doctrine delivered to us by our ancestors: but then they inform us, at the same time, that this resurrection shall not be but with the dissolution and renovation of the world, Job 14:11-12. The waters go off from the sea, and the flood (the river) will decay and dry up. And man lieth down and riseth not till the heavens be no more; (till then) they shall not awake nor be raised out of their sleep.” The meaning seems to be, that as we see every thing in flux, and subject to change, so the whole shall one day be changed. The sea itself will at length be quite absorbed; and the running rivers, which now flow perpetually, as if supplied by everlasting springs, will nevertheless, in time, quite cease and disappear. This visible frame of things shall be dissolved, and the present heavens themselves shall be no more: and then, and not before, comes the resurrection and general judgment.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv12–15So man lieth down, and riseth not - He…
So man lieth down, and riseth not - He lies down in the grave and does not rise again on the earth.
Till the heavens be no more - That is, never; for such is the fair interpretation of the passage, and this accords with its design. Job means to say, undoubtedly, that man would never appear again in the land of the living; that he would not spring up from the grave, as a sprout does from a fallen tree; and that when he dies, he goes away from the earth never to return. Whether he believed in a future state, or in the future resurrection, is another question, and one that cannot be determined from this passage. His complaint is, that the present life is short, and that man when he has once passed through it cannot return to enjoy it again, if it has been unhappy; and he asks, therefore, why, since it was so short, man might not be permitted to enjoy it without molestation. It does not follow from this passage that he believed that the heavens ever would be no more, or would pass away.
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The heavens are the most permanent and enduring objects of which we have any knowledge, and are, therefore, used to denote permanency and eternity; see Psa 89:36-37. This verse, therefore, is simply a solemn declaration of the belief of Job that when man dies, he dies to live no more on the earth. Of the truth of this, no one can doubt - and the truth is as important and affecting as it is undoubted. If man could come back again, life would be a different thing. If he could revisit the earth to repair the evils of a wicked life, to repent of his errors, to make amends for his faults, and to make preparation for a future world, it would be a different thing to live, and a different thing to die. But when he travels over the road of life, he treads a path which is not to be traversed again. When he neglects an opportunity to do good, it cannot be recalled. When he commits an offence, he cannot come back to repair the evil. He falls, and dies, and lives no more. He enters on other scenes, and is amidst the retributions of another state. How important then to secure the passing moment, and to be prepared to go hence, to return no more! The idea here presented is one that is common with the poets. Thus, Horace says:
Nobis, cum semel occidit brevis lux,
Nox est perpetua una dormienda.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary1859 · Public DomainOn vv12–14Till. At that time, the general resurrection will take…
Till. At that time, the general resurrection will take place. (Vatable) (Scultet.) --- But people will never revive, according to the course of nature. In St. Matthew v. 18., and Psalm lxxi. 7., till is used in this sense. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown1871 · Public DomainOn vv12–15heavens be no more--This only implies that Job had…
heavens be no more--This only implies that Job had no hope of living again in the present order of the world, not that he had no hope of life again in a new order of things. Psa 102:26 proves that early under the Old Testament the dissolution of the present earth and heavens was expected (compare Gen 8:22). Enoch before Job had implied that the "saints shall live again" (Jde 1:14; Heb 11:13-16). Even if, by this phrase, Job meant "never" (Psa 89:29) in his gloomier state of feelings, yet the Holy Ghost has made him unconsciously (Pe1 1:11-12) use language expressing the truth, that the resurrection is to be preceded by the dissolution of the heavens. In Job 14:13-15 he plainly passes to brighter hopes of a world to come.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv12–1512. Riseth not — Among the most ancient and…
12. Riseth not — Among the most ancient and universal beliefs was that of the transmigration of souls. It was man’s natural recoil from annihilation. He preferred to live in any mode, even in the grossest form of the brute, rather than that his being should be extinguished. Job is thought by some to have in view this false belief: he means rather to affirm that at death man ceases forever from this world. There is no root, shoot, bough, or form of being that can spring out of the man when once he is dead.
Till the heavens be no more — “That is, never. For things unchangeable and eternal are in Scripture compared in duration to the heavens.” Such is the view of Noyes and the German commentators. The passage really has respect to the restoration of present life in this world. The law that involves man in complete and hopeless destruction shall forever prevail, or, in Job’s language, “till the heavens be no more.” Of the same heavens of which Job speaks the psalmist says, (Psa_102:26,) “they shall perish;” (אֶבד the strong Hebrew word for “perish,” — used alike of men and animals.) Isaiah (Isa_51:6) also says of the heavens, “They shall vanish away like smoke,” נמלחו, literally, “be rubbed to pieces,” resolved into atoms like smoke. Compare Isa_65:17; 2Pe_3:10, etc. So that, many think, this dark passage has in it the germ of hope, or at least, that it falls into the category of unconscious foreshadowings of scripture truth. It is evident there was a very ancient belief that the heavens and earth should be destroyed. Ovid speaks of such a prediction (Met. 50:256), Esse quoque in fatis reminiscitur, etc. It was a common opinion of the Stoics that the whole world would catch fire, (Minucius Felix, 34:2,) and in its destruction “involve the very elements and the frame of the universe.” Compare Lucretius, lib. 5:97. The ancient Hindu held a similar belief. At the end of the last calpa the whole creation, nay, the host of gods themselves, will be overwhelmed in one common destruction. The sagas of the Scandinavian, and the old Runic mythology, confirm the great antiquity of this dogma, which may have had its origin in Egypt, (see PRITCHARD’S Mythology, pp. 181, 192,) or more probably in some primeval revelation. It does not appear improbable that such a tradition was in the mind of Job. If so, to say that the dead shall not be raised out of their sleep till the heavens be no more is equivalent to saying that when the heavens are no more the dead shall be raised out of their sleep. “And man that has lain down (in death) shall certainly not rise again till the heavens be dissolved.” — Septuagint.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv12–1312. till the heavens be no more] i. e.…
12. till the heavens be no more] i. e. never; cf. Psa_72:7, Till there be no moon. The heavens are eternal, cf. Jer_31:35-36; Psa_89:29; Psa_89:36-37.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers1878 · Public DomainOn v14(14) If a man die, shall he live again?—Why…
(14) If a man die, shall he live again?—Why ask the question if it were absolutely certain that he would not? “All the days of my warfare—i.e., as long as I live—I will hope, till my change or transition from life to death comes, that Thou shalt call and I shall answer Thee, that Thou wilt long for the work of Thine hands.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv12–15So man lieth down, and riseth not. This is…
So man lieth down, and riseth not. This is not an absolute denial of a final resurrection, since Job is speaking of the world as it lies before him, not of eventualities. Just as he sees the land encroach upon the sea, and remain land, and the river-courses, once dried up, remain dry, so he sees men descend into the grave and remain there, without rising up again. This is the established order of nature as it exists before his eyes. Till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake. This order of things, Job believes, rightly enough, will continue as long as the heavens and the earth endure. What will happen afterwards he does not so much as inquire. It is remarked, ingeniously, that Job"s words, though not intended in this sense, exactly "coincide with the declarations of the New Testament, which make the resurrection simultaneous with the breaking up of the visible universe" (Canon Cook). Nor be raised out of their sleep . If "the glimmer of a hope" of the resurrection appears anywhere in vers. 10-12, it is in the comparison of death to a sleep, which is inseparably connected in our minds with an awakening.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn vv12, 14, 15Till the heavens be no more, they shall not…
Job_14:12
Till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.
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The sleep of death
1. Death is like sleep in its outward appearance. This likeness should remind us, when we lie down to sleep, of that death which sleep resembles. It should teach us to look upon it without dismay.
2. Sleep and death are both a refuge from the ills and cares of this life, and a rest from its labour.
3. In both the soul is conscious still. The soul never sleeps, and hence the phenomena of dreams.
4. Each is followed by an awakening. The consideration that you must shortly sleep in the dust, and you know not how soon, should constrain you to seek for the pardon of your sins, and the removal of your iniquity, ere it be too late. (G. Cole.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren1905 · Public DomainOn v14Job 14:14. - Joh 11:25 - Joh 11:26.
Job
JOB’S QUESTION, JESUS’ ANSWER
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Job 14:14. - Joh 11:25 - Joh 11:26.
Job’s question waited long for an answer. Weary centuries rolled away; but at last the doubting, almost despairing, cry put into the mouth of the man of sorrows of the Old Testament is answered by the Man of Sorrows of the New. The answer in words is this second text which may almost be supposed to allude to the ancient question. The answer, in fact, is the resurrection of Christ. Apart from this answer there is none.
So we may take these two texts to help us to grasp more clearly and feel more profoundly what the world owes to that great fact which we are naturally led to think of to-day.
I. The ancient and ever returning question.
The Book of Job is probably a late part of the Old Testament. It deals with problems which indicate some advance in religious thought. Solemn and magnificent, and for the most part sad; it is like a Titan struggling with large problems, and seldom attaining to positive conclusions in which the heart or the head can rest in peace. Here all Job’s mind is clouded with a doubt. He has just given utterance to an intense longing for a life beyond the grave. His abode in Sheol is thought of as in some sense a breach in the continuity of his consciousness, but even that would be tolerable, if only he could be sure that, after many days, God would remember him. Then that longing gives way before the torturing question of the text, which dashes aside the tremulous hope with its insistent interrogation. It is not denial, but it is a doubt which palsies hope. But though he has no certainty, he cannot part with the possibility, and so goes on to imagine how blessed it would be if his longing were fulfilled. He thinks that such a renewed life would be like the ‘release’ of a sentry who had long stood on guard; he thinks of it as his swift, joyous ‘answer’ to God’s summons, which would draw him out from the sad crowd of pale shadows and bring him back to warmth and reality. His hope takes a more daring flight still, and he thinks of God as yearning for His creature, as His creature yearns for Him, and having ‘a desire to the work of His hands,’ as if His heaven would be incomplete without His servant. But the rapture and the vision pass, and the rest of the chapter is all clouded over, and the devout hope loses its light. Once again it gathers brightness in the twenty-first chapter, where the possibility flashes out starlike, that ‘after my skin hath been thus destroyed, yet from my flesh shall I see God.’
These fluctuations of hope and doubt reveal to us the attitude of devout souls in Israel at a late era of the national life. And if they show us their high-water mark, we need not suppose that similar souls outside the Old Testament circle had solid certainty where these had but a variable hope. We know how large a development the doctrine of a future life had in Assyria and in Egypt, and I suppose we are entitled to say that men have always had the idea of a future. They have always had the thought, sometimes as a fear, sometimes as a hope, but never as a certainty. It has lacked not only certainty but distinctness. It has lacked solidity also, the power to hold its own and sustain itself against the weighty pressure of intrusive things seen and temporal.
But we need not go to the ends of the earth or to past generations for examples of a doubting, superficial hold of the truth that man lives through death and after it. We have only to look around us, and, alas! we have only to look within us. This age is asking the question again, and answering it in many tones, sometimes of indifferent disregard, sometimes flaunting a stark negative without reasoned foundation, sometimes with affirmatives with as little reason as these negatives. The modern world is caught in the rush and whirl of life, has its own sorrows to front, its own battles to fight, and large sections of it have never come as near an answer to Job’s question as Job did.
II. Christ’s all-sufficing answer.
He gave it there, by the grave of Lazarus, to that weeping sister, but He spoke these great words of calm assurance to all the world. One cannot but note the difference between His attitude in the presence of the great Mystery and that of all other teachers. How calmly, certainly, and confidently He speaks!
Mark that Jesus, even at that hour of agony, turns Martha’s thoughts to Himself. What He is is the all-important thing for her to know. If she understands Him, life and death will have no insoluble problems nor any hopelessness for her. ‘I am the Resurrection and the Life.’ She had risen in her grief to a lofty height in believing that ‘even now’-at this moment when help is vain and hope is dead-’whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee,’ but Jesus offers to her a loftier conception of Him when He lays a sovereign hand on resurrection and life, and discloses that both inhere in Him, and from Him flow to all who shall possess them. He claims to have in Himself the fountain of life, in all possible senses of the word, as well as in the special sense relevant at that sad hour. Further, He tells Martha that by faith in Him any and all may possess that life. And then He majestically goes on to declare that the life which He gives is immune from, and untouched by, death. The believer shall live though he dies, the living believer shall never die. It is clear that, in these two great statements, to die is used in two different meanings, referring in the former case to the physical fact, and in the latter carrying a heavier weight of significance, namely the pregnant sense which it usually has in this Gospel, of separation from God and consequently from the true life of the soul. Physical death is not the termination of human life. The grim fact touches only the surface life, and has nothing to do with the essential, personal being. He that believes on Jesus, and he only, truly lives, and his union with Jesus secures his possession of that eternal life, which victoriously persists through the apparent, superficial change which men call death. Nothing dies but the death which surrounds the faithful soul. For it to die is to live more fully, more triumphantly, more blessedly. So though the act of physical death remains, its whole character is changed. Hence the New Testament euphemisms for death are much more than euphemisms. Men christen it by names which drape its ugliness, because they fear it so much, but Faith can play with Leviathan, because it fears it not at all. Hence such names as ‘sleep,’ ‘exodus,’ are tokens of the victory won for all believers by Jesus. He will show Martha the hope for all His followers which begins to dawn even in the calling of her brother back from the grip of death. And He shows us the great truth that His being the ‘Life’ necessarily involved His being also the ‘Resurrection,’ for His life-communicating work could not be accomplished till His all-quickening vitality had flowed over into, and flooded with its own conquering tides, not only the spirit which believes but its humble companion, the soul, and its yet humbler, the body. A bodily life is essential to perfect manhood, and Jesus will not stay His hand till every believer is full-summed in all his powers, and is perfect in body, soul, and spirit, after the image of Him who redeemed Him.
III. The pledge for the truth of the answer.
The words of Jesus are only words. These precious words, spoken to that one weeping sister in a little Jewish village, and which have brought hope to millions ever since, are as baseless as all the other dreams and longings of the heart, unless Jesus confirms them by fact. If He did not rise from the dead, they are but another of the noble, exalted, but futile delusions of which the world has many others. If Christ be not risen, His words of consolation are swelling words of emptiness; His whole claims are ended, and the age-old question which Job asked is unanswered still, and will always remain unanswered. If Christ be not risen, the hopeless colloquy between Jehovah and the prophet sums up all that can be said of the future life: ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’ And I answered, ‘O Lord God, Thou knowest!’
But Christ’s resurrection is a fact which, taken in connection with His words while on earth, endorses these and establishes His claims to be the Declarer of the name of God, the Saviour of the world. It gives us demonstration of the continuity of life through and after death. Taken along with His ascension, which is but, so to speak, the prolongation of the point into a line, it declares that a glorified body and an abode in a heavenly home are waiting for all who by faith become here partakers in Jesus and are quickened by sharing in His life.
So in despite of sense and doubt and fear, notwithstanding teachers who, like the supercilious philosophers on Mars Hill, mock when they hear of a resurrection from the dead, we should rejoice in the great light which has shined into the region of the shadow of death, we should clasp His divine and most faithful answer to that old, despairing question, as the anchor of our souls, and lift up our hearts in thanksgiving in the triumphant challenge, ‘O death! where is thy sting? O grave! where is thy victory?’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield1917 · Public DomainOn v13Heb. "Sheol," (See Scofield "Hab 2:5").
grave
Heb. "Sheol," (See Scofield "Hab 2:5").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann1924 · Public DomainOn v13A Prayer to be Delivered from his Affliction
A Prayer to be Delivered from his Affliction
v. 13. Oh, that Thou wouldest hide me in the grave, secure in the realm of the dead, that Thou wouldest keep me secret, safely hidden, until Thy wrath be past, change once more into kindness, that Thou wouldest appoint me a set time and remember me! Job pleaded to be remembered in mercy, to be reestablished in God’s grace. But for him, the reality differs much from this wish.
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v. 14. If a man die, shall he live again? It is the voice of suspicion, of skepticism, which desires to banish all hope for the future, the doubt which endeavors to enter the heart of believers from time to time. All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come. The figure is taken from the life of the soldier, who will not abandon his post until he is relieved, discharged, or exchanged. The idea of an eventual deliverance from the realm of death is brought out pretty strongly at this point.
v. 15. Thou shalt call, that is, God would call to him, in granting him the discharge which he hoped for, and I will answer Thee; Thou wilt have a desire to the work of Thine hands, God would feel an affectionate yearning for Job, the poor, miserable creature, who was now groaning under such great afflictions.
v. 16. For now Thou numberest my steps, at this time God was still watching his every move as that of a transgressor; dost Thou not watch over my sin? So deep was Job’s despair that he believed God was still holding back, that He was still keeping anger, that His full manifestation of it had not yet taken place.
v. 17. My transgression is sealed up in a bag, his guilt, or wickedness, was kept in remembrance, and Thou sewest up mine iniquity, literally, "Thou hast stitched on to my transgressions," that is, made Job’s iniquity greater than it was in truth, and then punished him accordingly.
v. 18. And surely the mountain falling cometh to naught, it crumbles to pieces under the destroying influence of the elements, and the rock is removed out of his place, growing old and decaying in the same manner.
v. 19. The waters wear the stones, hollowing them out by continual dripping; Thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth, the floods of water carry away the fruitful soil very quickly; and Thou destroyest the hope of man, for mortal man also perishes without the slightest hope of being brought back to this life again. The strongest and most substantial things in nature are unable to withstand the destructive power of the elements in the hand of God; how much less will mortal man escape this destruction?
v. 20. Thou prevailest forever against him, overpowering him with His might, and he passeth; Thou changest his countenance, disfiguring him, distorting his features in the agony of death, and sendest him away, forth out of this earthly life.
v. 21. His sons come to honor, or, "should his children be in honor?" and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, abased and disgraced; but he perceiveth it not of them. Man in the realm of death is utterly ignorant of that which takes place on this earth, being affected neither by the good nor by the ill fortune of his surviving relatives.
v. 22. But his flesh upon him shall have pain, feeling pain in the thought of his own misery, and his soul within him shall mourn. Pain is here, by personification, from our feelings while alive, attributed to the flesh and the soul, as if man could feel it in his body when dead. Note that the restoration of the body together with the soul is assumed in this passage, in a final awakening of the dead.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv13, 15General Information:
General Information:
Job continues speaking to God.
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Oh, that you would hide me
This is an exclamation showing what Job wants very much but does not really expect to happen. AT: "I wish that you would hide me" (See: Exclamations)
keep me in private
"keep me locked up" or "keep me hidden"
call me to mind
Call someone to mind is an idiom meaning to think about him. AT: "think about me" or "remember me" (See: Idiom)
If a man dies, will he live again?
The implicit answer is "no." AT: "If a man dies, he will not live again." (See: Rhetorical Question)
If so
What "so" refers to is understood from the previous phrase. AT: "If he would live again" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
to wait all my weary time there
"to wait all my time there even though I would be weary"
until my release should come
The abstract noun "release" can be expressed with the verb "release." AT: "until I should be released" or "until you release me" (See: Abstract Nouns)
Tyndale Open Study Notes2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv12–1314:12 do not rise again: Job himself did not…
14:12 do not rise again: Job himself did not have even the minimal evidence of resurrection found in the Old Testament (2 Kgs 13:21; Isa 26:19; Dan 12:2; cp. Job 19:25). • Job was not focusing on the end of the universe when the heavens will be no more (Ps 102:25-26; Isa 34:4; 51:6; Heb 1:10-12) but on the eternity of the heavens (Ps 148:6; cp. Pss 72:5, 7, 17; 89:29, 37). His phrase refers to the permanency of death.
GEBible — Godless Engineer's Bible App
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv13–15 Hereby he declareth that the fear of God’s judgment…
Hereby he declareth that the fear of God’s judgment was the cause why he desired to die.
That is, release my pains and take me to mercy.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv12–15 Job 14:12 So man lieth down, and riseth not:…
Job 14:12 So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens [be] no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.
Ver. 12. So man lieth down] sc. In the dust of death, or in the bed of the grave; his dormitory, till the last day.
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Ut somnus morris, sic lectus imago sepulchri.
And riseth not] sc. To live again among men. So, Psa 78:39, man is compared to a wind, which, when it is past, returneth not again. If it be objected, that we read of three in the Old Testament, and five in the New, raised from death to life; besides those many that arose and came out of the graves after Christ’s resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many, Mat 27:52-53; it is answered, 1. These few raised by God’s extraordinary power do not infringe the truth of what the Scripture here and elsewhere affirmeth of all mankind according to the ordinary course of nature. 2. Even those men also afterwards died again, and vanished, no more to return or appear again in this world.
Till the heavens be no more] i.e. Never (say some interpreters), to wit, vi sua, by his own strength, and to a better condition in the land of the living; so the word "until" is used, 2Sa 6:13 Mat 5:26; Mat 1:25, ut pie credimus. How sound and clear Job was in the point of the resurrection we shall see, Job 19:26, and because he falls upon it in the words next following here, some understand these words thus: They shall not rise till the general resurrections, when these heavens shall be changed and renewed, Psa 102:25-26 Isa 65:17 2Pe 3:7; 2Pe 3:10-11 Rev 21:1.
They shall not awake] Out of the sleep of death;
nor be raised] viz. By the sound of the last trump, till the last day. But raised they shall be, and sleep no more, viz. when the heavens shall be no more. And till that time the bodies of the saints are laid in the grave, as in a bed of down, or of spices, to mellow and ripen. This is matter of joy and triumph, Isa 26:19 Dan 12:2, when they were to lose all: so Heb 11:35. The wicked also sleep in the grave, Dan 12:2, but shall awake to everlasting shame and contempt, ib.; their sick sleep shall have a woeful waking, for they shall be raised by virtue of Christ’s judiciary power, and by the curse of the law, to look upon him whom they have pierced, and to hear from him that dreadful Discedite, "Depart, ye cursed," &c.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv12–15 Man lieth down, to wit, in his bed, the…
Man lieth down, to wit, in his bed, the grave, or to sleep the sleep of death, as this phrase is used, Gen 46:30; Deu 31:6; 2Sa 7:12; 1Ki 1:21.
Riseth not, to wit, to tills life; for he speaks not here of the life to come, nor of the resurrection of the belly after death by the Divine power; of his belief whereof he giveth sufficient evidences in divers places.
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Till the heavens be no more, i.e. either,
1. Never; because the heavens, though they shall be changed in their qualities, yet shall never cease to be, as to the substance of them. And therefore everlasting and unchangeable things are expressed by the duration of the heavens; of which see Psa 72:5,7,17; 89:29,36,37; Mt 5:18; 24:35. Or,
2. Not until the time of the general resurrection, and the restitution of things, when these visible heavens shall pass away, and be no more, at least in the same form and manner as now they are; of which see Psa 102:26; Luk 21:33; 2Pe 3:7,10; Re 21:1.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv12–15 So man lieth down,.... Or "and", or "but man…
So man lieth down,.... Or "and", or "but man lieth down" (b); in the grave when he dies, as on a bed, and takes his rest from all his labours, toil and troubles, and lies asleep, and continues so till the resurrection morn:
and riseth not; from off his bed, or comes not out of his grave into this world, to the place where he was, and to be engaged in the affairs of life he was before, and never by his own power; and whenever he will rise, it will be by the power of God, and this not till the last day, when Christ shall appear in person to judge the world; and then the dead in Christ will rise first, at the beginning of the thousand years, and the wicked at the end of them:
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till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep; for so the words are to be read, not in connection with those that go before, but with the last clauses; though the sense is much the same either way, which is, that those who are fallen asleep by death, and lie sleeping in their graves, and on their beds, these shall neither awake of themselves, nor be awaked by others, "till the heavens be no more"; that is, never, so as to awake and arise of themselves, and to this natural life, and to be concerned in the business of it; which sometimes seems to be the sense of this phrase, see Psa 89:29, Mat 5:18; or, as some render it, "till the heavens are wore out", or "waxen old" (c); as they will like a garment, and be folded up, and laid aside, as to their present use, Psa 102:26; or till they shall vanish away, and be no more, as to their present form, quality, and use, though they may exist as to substance; and when this will be the case, as it will be when the Judge shall appear, when Christ shall come a second time to judge the world; then the earth and heaven will flee away from his face, the earth and its works shall be burnt up, and the heavens shall pass away with great noise; and then, and not till then, will the dead, or those that are asleep in their graves, be awaked by the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God, and they shall be raised from their sleepy beds, awake and arise, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
(b) "et vir", Pagninus, Montanus, Beza, Schmidt; "at vir", Cocceius. (c) "donec atteratur eoelum", V. L. so some in Bar Tzemach, though disapproved of by him as ungrammatical.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv12–15 Lieth - In his bed, the grave. 'Till -…
Lieth - In his bed, the grave. 'Till - Until the time of the general resurrection, when these visible heavens shall pass away.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv12–15 Verse 12. So man lieth down] He falls asleep…
Verse 12. So man lieth down] He falls asleep in his bed of earth.
And riseth not] Men shall not, like cut down trees and plants, reproduce their like; nor shall they arise till the heavens are no more, till the earth and all its works are burnt up, and the general resurrection of human beings shall take place. Surely it would be difficult to twist this passage to the denial of the resurrection of the body. Neither can these expressions be fairly understood as implying Job's belief in the materiality of the soul, and that the whole man sleeps from the day of his death to the morning of the resurrection. We have already seen that Job makes a distinction between the animal life and rational soul in man; and it is most certain that the doctrine of the materiality of the soul, and its sleep till the resurrection, has no place in the sacred records. There is a most beautiful passage to the same purpose, and with the same imagery, in Moschus's epitaph on the death of Bion: -
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Αι, αι ται μαλαχαι μεν επαν κατα καπον ολωνται,
Η τα χλωρα σελινα, το τ' ευθαλες ουλον ανηθον,
Ὑστερον αυ ζωοντι, και εις ετος αλλο φυοντι·
Αμμες δ', οἱ μεγαλοι, και καρτεροι, η σοφοι ανδρες,
Ὁπποτε πρωτα θανωμες, ανακοοι εν χθονι κοιλα
Εὑδομες ευ μαλα μακρον, ατερμονα, νηγρετον ὑπνον.
Idyll. iii., ver. 100.
Alas! alas! the mallows, when they die,
Or garden herbs, and sweet Anethum's pride,
Blooming in vigour, wake again to life,
And flourish beauteous through another year:
But we, the great, the mighty, and the wise,
When once we die, unknown in earth's dark womb
Sleep long and drear, the endless sleep of death.
J. B. B. C.
A more cold and comfortless philosophy was never invented. The next verse shows that Job did not entertain this view of the subject.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv12–15 Job 14:12. So man lieth down — In his…
Job 14:12. So man lieth down — In his bed the grave, sleeping the sleep of death. And riseth not till the heavens be no more — That is, until the time of the general resurrection and restitution of all things, when these visible heavens shall pass away, and be no more, at least in the same form in which they are now. This whole paragraph is interpreted in a somewhat different way by a late writer. “After a tree is cut down, we see, nevertheless, the old stock flourish again, and send forth new branches; and shall man then, when he once expires, he extinct for ever? Is there no hope that he shall revive, and be raised again hereafter? Yes, there is, according to the doctrine delivered to us by our ancestors: but then they inform us, at the same time, that this resurrection shall not be but with the dissolution and renovation of the world, Job 14:11-12. The waters go off from the sea, and the flood (the river) will decay and dry up. And man lieth down and riseth not till the heavens be no more; (till then) they shall not awake nor be raised out of their sleep.” The meaning seems to be, that as we see every thing in flux, and subject to change, so the whole shall one day be changed. The sea itself will at length be quite absorbed; and the running rivers, which now flow perpetually, as if supplied by everlasting springs, will nevertheless, in time, quite cease and disappear. This visible frame of things shall be dissolved, and the present heavens themselves shall be no more: and then, and not before, comes the resurrection and general judgment.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv12–15 So man lieth down, and riseth not - He…
So man lieth down, and riseth not - He lies down in the grave and does not rise again on the earth.
Till the heavens be no more - That is, never; for such is the fair interpretation of the passage, and this accords with its design. Job means to say, undoubtedly, that man would never appear again in the land of the living; that he would not spring up from the grave, as a sprout does from a fallen tree; and that when he dies, he goes away from the earth never to return. Whether he believed in a future state, or in the future resurrection, is another question, and one that cannot be determined from this passage. His complaint is, that the present life is short, and that man when he has once passed through it cannot return to enjoy it again, if it has been unhappy; and he asks, therefore, why, since it was so short, man might not be permitted to enjoy it without molestation. It does not follow from this passage that he believed that the heavens ever would be no more, or would pass away.
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The heavens are the most permanent and enduring objects of which we have any knowledge, and are, therefore, used to denote permanency and eternity; see Psa 89:36-37. This verse, therefore, is simply a solemn declaration of the belief of Job that when man dies, he dies to live no more on the earth. Of the truth of this, no one can doubt - and the truth is as important and affecting as it is undoubted. If man could come back again, life would be a different thing. If he could revisit the earth to repair the evils of a wicked life, to repent of his errors, to make amends for his faults, and to make preparation for a future world, it would be a different thing to live, and a different thing to die. But when he travels over the road of life, he treads a path which is not to be traversed again. When he neglects an opportunity to do good, it cannot be recalled. When he commits an offence, he cannot come back to repair the evil. He falls, and dies, and lives no more. He enters on other scenes, and is amidst the retributions of another state. How important then to secure the passing moment, and to be prepared to go hence, to return no more! The idea here presented is one that is common with the poets. Thus, Horace says:
Nobis, cum semel occidit brevis lux,
Nox est perpetua una dormienda.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv12–14 Till. At that time, the general resurrection will take…
Till. At that time, the general resurrection will take place. (Vatable) (Scultet.) --- But people will never revive, according to the course of nature. In St. Matthew v. 18., and Psalm lxxi. 7., till is used in this sense. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv12–15 heavens be no more--This only implies that Job had…
heavens be no more--This only implies that Job had no hope of living again in the present order of the world, not that he had no hope of life again in a new order of things. Psa 102:26 proves that early under the Old Testament the dissolution of the present earth and heavens was expected (compare Gen 8:22). Enoch before Job had implied that the "saints shall live again" (Jde 1:14; Heb 11:13-16). Even if, by this phrase, Job meant "never" (Psa 89:29) in his gloomier state of feelings, yet the Holy Ghost has made him unconsciously (Pe1 1:11-12) use language expressing the truth, that the resurrection is to be preceded by the dissolution of the heavens. In Job 14:13-15 he plainly passes to brighter hopes of a world to come.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv12–15 12. Riseth not — Among the most ancient and…
12. Riseth not — Among the most ancient and universal beliefs was that of the transmigration of souls. It was man’s natural recoil from annihilation. He preferred to live in any mode, even in the grossest form of the brute, rather than that his being should be extinguished. Job is thought by some to have in view this false belief: he means rather to affirm that at death man ceases forever from this world. There is no root, shoot, bough, or form of being that can spring out of the man when once he is dead.
Till the heavens be no more — “That is, never. For things unchangeable and eternal are in Scripture compared in duration to the heavens.” Such is the view of Noyes and the German commentators. The passage really has respect to the restoration of present life in this world. The law that involves man in complete and hopeless destruction shall forever prevail, or, in Job’s language, “till the heavens be no more.” Of the same heavens of which Job speaks the psalmist says, (Psa_102:26,) “they shall perish;” (אֶבד the strong Hebrew word for “perish,” — used alike of men and animals.) Isaiah (Isa_51:6) also says of the heavens, “They shall vanish away like smoke,” נמלחו, literally, “be rubbed to pieces,” resolved into atoms like smoke. Compare Isa_65:17; 2Pe_3:10, etc. So that, many think, this dark passage has in it the germ of hope, or at least, that it falls into the category of unconscious foreshadowings of scripture truth. It is evident there was a very ancient belief that the heavens and earth should be destroyed. Ovid speaks of such a prediction (Met. 50:256), Esse quoque in fatis reminiscitur, etc. It was a common opinion of the Stoics that the whole world would catch fire, (Minucius Felix, 34:2,) and in its destruction “involve the very elements and the frame of the universe.” Compare Lucretius, lib. 5:97. The ancient Hindu held a similar belief. At the end of the last calpa the whole creation, nay, the host of gods themselves, will be overwhelmed in one common destruction. The sagas of the Scandinavian, and the old Runic mythology, confirm the great antiquity of this dogma, which may have had its origin in Egypt, (see PRITCHARD’S Mythology, pp. 181, 192,) or more probably in some primeval revelation. It does not appear improbable that such a tradition was in the mind of Job. If so, to say that the dead shall not be raised out of their sleep till the heavens be no more is equivalent to saying that when the heavens are no more the dead shall be raised out of their sleep. “And man that has lain down (in death) shall certainly not rise again till the heavens be dissolved.” — Septuagint.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv12–13 12. till the heavens be no more] i. e.…
12. till the heavens be no more] i. e. never; cf. Psa_72:7, Till there be no moon. The heavens are eternal, cf. Jer_31:35-36; Psa_89:29; Psa_89:36-37.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On v14 (14) If a man die, shall he live again?—Why…
(14) If a man die, shall he live again?—Why ask the question if it were absolutely certain that he would not? “All the days of my warfare—i.e., as long as I live—I will hope, till my change or transition from life to death comes, that Thou shalt call and I shall answer Thee, that Thou wilt long for the work of Thine hands.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv12–15 So man lieth down, and riseth not. This is…
So man lieth down, and riseth not. This is not an absolute denial of a final resurrection, since Job is speaking of the world as it lies before him, not of eventualities. Just as he sees the land encroach upon the sea, and remain land, and the river-courses, once dried up, remain dry, so he sees men descend into the grave and remain there, without rising up again. This is the established order of nature as it exists before his eyes. Till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake. This order of things, Job believes, rightly enough, will continue as long as the heavens and the earth endure. What will happen afterwards he does not so much as inquire. It is remarked, ingeniously, that Job"s words, though not intended in this sense, exactly "coincide with the declarations of the New Testament, which make the resurrection simultaneous with the breaking up of the visible universe" (Canon Cook). Nor be raised out of their sleep . If "the glimmer of a hope" of the resurrection appears anywhere in vers. 10-12, it is in the comparison of death to a sleep, which is inseparably connected in our minds with an awakening.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv12, 14, 15 Till the heavens be no more, they shall not…
Job_14:12
Till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.
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The sleep of death
1. Death is like sleep in its outward appearance. This likeness should remind us, when we lie down to sleep, of that death which sleep resembles. It should teach us to look upon it without dismay.
2. Sleep and death are both a refuge from the ills and cares of this life, and a rest from its labour.
3. In both the soul is conscious still. The soul never sleeps, and hence the phenomena of dreams.
4. Each is followed by an awakening. The consideration that you must shortly sleep in the dust, and you know not how soon, should constrain you to seek for the pardon of your sins, and the removal of your iniquity, ere it be too late. (G. Cole.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v14 Job 14:14. - Joh 11:25 - Joh 11:26.
Job
JOB’S QUESTION, JESUS’ ANSWER
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Job 14:14. - Joh 11:25 - Joh 11:26.
Job’s question waited long for an answer. Weary centuries rolled away; but at last the doubting, almost despairing, cry put into the mouth of the man of sorrows of the Old Testament is answered by the Man of Sorrows of the New. The answer in words is this second text which may almost be supposed to allude to the ancient question. The answer, in fact, is the resurrection of Christ. Apart from this answer there is none.
So we may take these two texts to help us to grasp more clearly and feel more profoundly what the world owes to that great fact which we are naturally led to think of to-day.
I. The ancient and ever returning question.
The Book of Job is probably a late part of the Old Testament. It deals with problems which indicate some advance in religious thought. Solemn and magnificent, and for the most part sad; it is like a Titan struggling with large problems, and seldom attaining to positive conclusions in which the heart or the head can rest in peace. Here all Job’s mind is clouded with a doubt. He has just given utterance to an intense longing for a life beyond the grave. His abode in Sheol is thought of as in some sense a breach in the continuity of his consciousness, but even that would be tolerable, if only he could be sure that, after many days, God would remember him. Then that longing gives way before the torturing question of the text, which dashes aside the tremulous hope with its insistent interrogation. It is not denial, but it is a doubt which palsies hope. But though he has no certainty, he cannot part with the possibility, and so goes on to imagine how blessed it would be if his longing were fulfilled. He thinks that such a renewed life would be like the ‘release’ of a sentry who had long stood on guard; he thinks of it as his swift, joyous ‘answer’ to God’s summons, which would draw him out from the sad crowd of pale shadows and bring him back to warmth and reality. His hope takes a more daring flight still, and he thinks of God as yearning for His creature, as His creature yearns for Him, and having ‘a desire to the work of His hands,’ as if His heaven would be incomplete without His servant. But the rapture and the vision pass, and the rest of the chapter is all clouded over, and the devout hope loses its light. Once again it gathers brightness in the twenty-first chapter, where the possibility flashes out starlike, that ‘after my skin hath been thus destroyed, yet from my flesh shall I see God.’
These fluctuations of hope and doubt reveal to us the attitude of devout souls in Israel at a late era of the national life. And if they show us their high-water mark, we need not suppose that similar souls outside the Old Testament circle had solid certainty where these had but a variable hope. We know how large a development the doctrine of a future life had in Assyria and in Egypt, and I suppose we are entitled to say that men have always had the idea of a future. They have always had the thought, sometimes as a fear, sometimes as a hope, but never as a certainty. It has lacked not only certainty but distinctness. It has lacked solidity also, the power to hold its own and sustain itself against the weighty pressure of intrusive things seen and temporal.
But we need not go to the ends of the earth or to past generations for examples of a doubting, superficial hold of the truth that man lives through death and after it. We have only to look around us, and, alas! we have only to look within us. This age is asking the question again, and answering it in many tones, sometimes of indifferent disregard, sometimes flaunting a stark negative without reasoned foundation, sometimes with affirmatives with as little reason as these negatives. The modern world is caught in the rush and whirl of life, has its own sorrows to front, its own battles to fight, and large sections of it have never come as near an answer to Job’s question as Job did.
II. Christ’s all-sufficing answer.
He gave it there, by the grave of Lazarus, to that weeping sister, but He spoke these great words of calm assurance to all the world. One cannot but note the difference between His attitude in the presence of the great Mystery and that of all other teachers. How calmly, certainly, and confidently He speaks!
Mark that Jesus, even at that hour of agony, turns Martha’s thoughts to Himself. What He is is the all-important thing for her to know. If she understands Him, life and death will have no insoluble problems nor any hopelessness for her. ‘I am the Resurrection and the Life.’ She had risen in her grief to a lofty height in believing that ‘even now’-at this moment when help is vain and hope is dead-’whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee,’ but Jesus offers to her a loftier conception of Him when He lays a sovereign hand on resurrection and life, and discloses that both inhere in Him, and from Him flow to all who shall possess them. He claims to have in Himself the fountain of life, in all possible senses of the word, as well as in the special sense relevant at that sad hour. Further, He tells Martha that by faith in Him any and all may possess that life. And then He majestically goes on to declare that the life which He gives is immune from, and untouched by, death. The believer shall live though he dies, the living believer shall never die. It is clear that, in these two great statements, to die is used in two different meanings, referring in the former case to the physical fact, and in the latter carrying a heavier weight of significance, namely the pregnant sense which it usually has in this Gospel, of separation from God and consequently from the true life of the soul. Physical death is not the termination of human life. The grim fact touches only the surface life, and has nothing to do with the essential, personal being. He that believes on Jesus, and he only, truly lives, and his union with Jesus secures his possession of that eternal life, which victoriously persists through the apparent, superficial change which men call death. Nothing dies but the death which surrounds the faithful soul. For it to die is to live more fully, more triumphantly, more blessedly. So though the act of physical death remains, its whole character is changed. Hence the New Testament euphemisms for death are much more than euphemisms. Men christen it by names which drape its ugliness, because they fear it so much, but Faith can play with Leviathan, because it fears it not at all. Hence such names as ‘sleep,’ ‘exodus,’ are tokens of the victory won for all believers by Jesus. He will show Martha the hope for all His followers which begins to dawn even in the calling of her brother back from the grip of death. And He shows us the great truth that His being the ‘Life’ necessarily involved His being also the ‘Resurrection,’ for His life-communicating work could not be accomplished till His all-quickening vitality had flowed over into, and flooded with its own conquering tides, not only the spirit which believes but its humble companion, the soul, and its yet humbler, the body. A bodily life is essential to perfect manhood, and Jesus will not stay His hand till every believer is full-summed in all his powers, and is perfect in body, soul, and spirit, after the image of Him who redeemed Him.
III. The pledge for the truth of the answer.
The words of Jesus are only words. These precious words, spoken to that one weeping sister in a little Jewish village, and which have brought hope to millions ever since, are as baseless as all the other dreams and longings of the heart, unless Jesus confirms them by fact. If He did not rise from the dead, they are but another of the noble, exalted, but futile delusions of which the world has many others. If Christ be not risen, His words of consolation are swelling words of emptiness; His whole claims are ended, and the age-old question which Job asked is unanswered still, and will always remain unanswered. If Christ be not risen, the hopeless colloquy between Jehovah and the prophet sums up all that can be said of the future life: ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’ And I answered, ‘O Lord God, Thou knowest!’
But Christ’s resurrection is a fact which, taken in connection with His words while on earth, endorses these and establishes His claims to be the Declarer of the name of God, the Saviour of the world. It gives us demonstration of the continuity of life through and after death. Taken along with His ascension, which is but, so to speak, the prolongation of the point into a line, it declares that a glorified body and an abode in a heavenly home are waiting for all who by faith become here partakers in Jesus and are quickened by sharing in His life.
So in despite of sense and doubt and fear, notwithstanding teachers who, like the supercilious philosophers on Mars Hill, mock when they hear of a resurrection from the dead, we should rejoice in the great light which has shined into the region of the shadow of death, we should clasp His divine and most faithful answer to that old, despairing question, as the anchor of our souls, and lift up our hearts in thanksgiving in the triumphant challenge, ‘O death! where is thy sting? O grave! where is thy victory?’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v13 Heb. "Sheol," (See Scofield "Hab 2:5").
grave
Heb. "Sheol," (See Scofield "Hab 2:5").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v13 A Prayer to be Delivered from his Affliction
A Prayer to be Delivered from his Affliction
v. 13. Oh, that Thou wouldest hide me in the grave, secure in the realm of the dead, that Thou wouldest keep me secret, safely hidden, until Thy wrath be past, change once more into kindness, that Thou wouldest appoint me a set time and remember me! Job pleaded to be remembered in mercy, to be reestablished in God’s grace. But for him, the reality differs much from this wish.
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v. 14. If a man die, shall he live again? It is the voice of suspicion, of skepticism, which desires to banish all hope for the future, the doubt which endeavors to enter the heart of believers from time to time. All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come. The figure is taken from the life of the soldier, who will not abandon his post until he is relieved, discharged, or exchanged. The idea of an eventual deliverance from the realm of death is brought out pretty strongly at this point.
v. 15. Thou shalt call, that is, God would call to him, in granting him the discharge which he hoped for, and I will answer Thee; Thou wilt have a desire to the work of Thine hands, God would feel an affectionate yearning for Job, the poor, miserable creature, who was now groaning under such great afflictions.
v. 16. For now Thou numberest my steps, at this time God was still watching his every move as that of a transgressor; dost Thou not watch over my sin? So deep was Job’s despair that he believed God was still holding back, that He was still keeping anger, that His full manifestation of it had not yet taken place.
v. 17. My transgression is sealed up in a bag, his guilt, or wickedness, was kept in remembrance, and Thou sewest up mine iniquity, literally, "Thou hast stitched on to my transgressions," that is, made Job’s iniquity greater than it was in truth, and then punished him accordingly.
v. 18. And surely the mountain falling cometh to naught, it crumbles to pieces under the destroying influence of the elements, and the rock is removed out of his place, growing old and decaying in the same manner.
v. 19. The waters wear the stones, hollowing them out by continual dripping; Thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth, the floods of water carry away the fruitful soil very quickly; and Thou destroyest the hope of man, for mortal man also perishes without the slightest hope of being brought back to this life again. The strongest and most substantial things in nature are unable to withstand the destructive power of the elements in the hand of God; how much less will mortal man escape this destruction?
v. 20. Thou prevailest forever against him, overpowering him with His might, and he passeth; Thou changest his countenance, disfiguring him, distorting his features in the agony of death, and sendest him away, forth out of this earthly life.
v. 21. His sons come to honor, or, "should his children be in honor?" and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, abased and disgraced; but he perceiveth it not of them. Man in the realm of death is utterly ignorant of that which takes place on this earth, being affected neither by the good nor by the ill fortune of his surviving relatives.
v. 22. But his flesh upon him shall have pain, feeling pain in the thought of his own misery, and his soul within him shall mourn. Pain is here, by personification, from our feelings while alive, attributed to the flesh and the soul, as if man could feel it in his body when dead. Note that the restoration of the body together with the soul is assumed in this passage, in a final awakening of the dead.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv13, 15 General Information:
General Information:
Job continues speaking to God.
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Oh, that you would hide me
This is an exclamation showing what Job wants very much but does not really expect to happen. AT: "I wish that you would hide me" (See: Exclamations)
keep me in private
"keep me locked up" or "keep me hidden"
call me to mind
Call someone to mind is an idiom meaning to think about him. AT: "think about me" or "remember me" (See: Idiom)
If a man dies, will he live again?
The implicit answer is "no." AT: "If a man dies, he will not live again." (See: Rhetorical Question)
If so
What "so" refers to is understood from the previous phrase. AT: "If he would live again" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
to wait all my weary time there
"to wait all my time there even though I would be weary"
until my release should come
The abstract noun "release" can be expressed with the verb "release." AT: "until I should be released" or "until you release me" (See: Abstract Nouns)
translationWords
Hades
trouble
wrath
mind
die
life
time
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv12–13 14:12 do not rise again: Job himself did not…
14:12 do not rise again: Job himself did not have even the minimal evidence of resurrection found in the Old Testament (2 Kgs 13:21; Isa 26:19; Dan 12:2; cp. Job 19:25). • Job was not focusing on the end of the universe when the heavens will be no more (Ps 102:25-26; Isa 34:4; 51:6; Heb 1:10-12) but on the eternity of the heavens (Ps 148:6; cp. Pss 72:5, 7, 17; 89:29, 37). His phrase refers to the permanency of death.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.