Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his bounds that he can’t pass;
Parallel Translations
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Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his bounds that he can’t pass;
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Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;
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Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months is with Thee, and Thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;
Cross-references (18)
Passages linked to Job 14:5 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 39:4 “Yahweh, show me my end, what is the measure of my days. Let me know how frail I am.
- Acts 17:26 He made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the surface of the earth, having determined appointed seasons, and the boundaries of their dwellings,
- Job 12:10 in whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind?
- Hebrews 9:27 Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this, judgment,
- Psalms 104:29 You hide your face; they are troubled. You take away their breath; they die and return to the dust.
- Job 21:21 For what does he care for his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off?
- Daniel 5:26 “This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE: God has counted your kingdom, and brought it to an end.
- Luke 12:20 “But God said to him, ‘You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared—whose will they be?’
- Job 23:13-14 But he stands alone, and who can oppose him? What his soul desires, even that he does. For he performs that which is appointed for me. Many such things are with him.
- Psalms 104:9 You have set a boundary that they may not pass over, that they don’t turn again to cover the earth.
- Daniel 4:35 All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; and he does according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and no one can stop his hand, or ask him, “What are you doing?”
- Job 7:1 “Isn’t a man forced to labor on earth? Aren’t his days like the days of a hired hand?
- Job 14:14 If a man dies, will he live again? I would wait all the days of my warfare, until my release should come.
- Revelation 3:7 “To the angel of the assembly in Philadelphia write: “He who is holy, he who is true, he who has the key of David, he who opens and no one can shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says these things:
- Daniel 5:30 In that night Belshazzar the Chaldean King was slain.
- Daniel 9:24 “Seventy weeks are decreed on your people and on your holy city, to finish disobedience, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy.
- Daniel 11:36 “The king will do according to his will. He will exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and will speak marvelous things against the God of gods. He will prosper until the indignation is accomplished; for that which is determined will be done.
- Revelation 1:18 and the Living one. I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever and ever. Amen. I have the keys of Death and of Hades.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (11 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Job 14:5 Seeing his days [are] determined, the number…
Job 14:5 Seeing his days [are] determined, the number of his months [are] with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;
Ver. 5. Seeing his days are determined, &c.] God hath set every man both his time (whether shorter, called here his days, or longer, the number of his months, they have both their bounds which none can pass) and also his task, Act 13:25. John fulfilled his course, et in brevi vitae spatio tempora virtutum multa replevit, and he lived long in a little time; he wrought hard, as not willing to be taken with his task undone (Hieron.). So Act 13:36. David, after he had served his own generation, and had done all the will of God, fell on sleep. See more of this on Job 7:1.
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Thou hast appointed his bounds] Heb. His statutes. It is appointed for all men once to die, Heb 9:27, once for all, and for ever it is appointed, and this statute is irrepealable. Here then we see the cause why some, likely to live long, die soon, and others more infirm live longer. God hath set the bounds of each one’s life to a very day. The bounds may be passed which our natural complexion setteth; the bounds cannot be passed which the providence and will of God setteth. Stat sua cuique dies - (Virg.).
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 His days; the days or (as it follows) months…
His days; the days or (as it follows) months of his life. Are determined; are by thy sentence and decree limited to a certain period.
With thee, i.e. exactly known to thee, or in thy power and disposal. Thou hast appointed a certain end of his days, beyond which he cannot prolong his life; and therefore let this short life and unavoidable death suffice for man’s punishment, and do not add further and sorer calamities.
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 Seeing his days are determined,.... Or "cut out" (i),…
Seeing his days are determined,.... Or "cut out" (i), exactly and precisely, how many he shall live, and what shall befall him every day of his life; whose life, because of the shortness of it, is rather measured by days than vents:
the number of his months are with thee; before him, in his sight, in his account, and fixed and settled by him:
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thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass; the boundaries of his life the period of his days, beyond which he cannot go; the term of man's life is so peremptorily fixed by God, that he cannot die sooner, nor live longer, than he has determined he should; as the time of a man's birth, so the time of his death is according to the purpose of God; and all intervening moments and articles of time, and all things that befall a man throughout the whole course of his life, all fall under the appointment of God, and are according to his determinate will; and when God requires of man his soul, no one has power over his spirit to retain it one moment; yet this hinders not the use of means for the preservation and comfort of life, since these are settled as well as the end, and are under the divine direction: the word for bounds signifies sometimes "statutes" (k): though not to be understood of laws appointed by God, either of a moral or ceremonial nature; but here it signifies set, stated, appointed times (l) Seneca (m) says the same thing;
"there is a boundary fixed for every man, which always remains where it is set, nor can any move it forward by any means whatsoever.''
(i) "exacte praefiniti sunt", Tigurine version. (k) "statuta ejus", V. L. Mercerus, Schmidt. (l) "Stata tempora", Beza. (m) Consolat. ad Marciam, c. 20.
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 Determined - Limited to a certain period. With thee…
Determined - Limited to a certain period. With thee - In thy power and disposal. Thou hast appointed a certain end of his days, beyond which he cannot prolong his life.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 5. Seeing his days are determined] The general…
Verse 5. Seeing his days are determined] The general term of human life is fixed by God himself; in vain are all attempts to prolong it beyond this term. Several attempts have been made in all nations to find an elixir that would expel all the seeds of disease, and keep men in continual health; but all these attempts have failed. Basil, Valentine, Norton, Dastin, Ripley, Sandivogius, Artephius, Geber, Van Helmont, Paracelsus, Philalethes, and several others, both in Europe and Asia, have written copiously on the subject, and have endeavoured to prove that a tincture might be produced, by which all imperfect metals may be transmuted into perfect; and an elixir by which the human body may be kept in a state of endless repair and health. And these profess to teach the method by which this tincture and this elixir may be made! Yet all these are dead; and dead, for aught we know, comparatively young! Artephius is, indeed, said to have lived ninety years, which is probable; but some of his foolish disciples, to give credit to their thriftless craft, added another cipher, and made his age nine hundred! Man may endeavour to pass the bound; and God may, here and there, produce a Thomas Parr, who died in 1635, aged one hundred and fifty-two; and a Henry Jenkins, who died in 1670, aged one hundred and sixty-nine; but these are rare instances, and do not affect the general term. Nor can death be avoided. Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return, is the law, and that will ever render nugatory all such pretended tinctures and elixirs.
But, although man cannot pass his appointed bounds, yet he may so live as never to reach them; for folly and wickedness abridge the term of human life; and therefore the psalmist says, Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out HALF their days, Ps 55:23, for by indolence, intemperance, and disorderly passions, the life of man is shortened in cases innumerable. We are not to understand the bounds as applying to individuals, but to the race in general. Perhaps there is no case in which God has determined absolutely that man's age shall be so long, and shall neither be more nor less. The contrary supposition involves innumerable absurdities.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Job 14:5-6. Seeing his days are determined — Limited…
Job 14:5-6. Seeing his days are determined — Limited to a certain period. The number of his months is with thee — Exactly known to thee, and in thy power and disposal. Thou hast appointed his bounds, &c. — Thou hast appointed a certain end of his days, beyond which he cannot prolong his life. Turn from him, that he may rest — Withdraw thine afflicting hand from him, that he may have some present ease and comfort. Till he shall accomplish, as a hireling, his day — Give him some respite till he finish his course, and come to the period of his life, which thou hast allotted him, as a man appoints a set time to a hired servant; which period will be as welcome to him as the end of his day of labour and toil is to the hireling. This idea is implied in the word ירצה, jertzeh, here rendered, he shall accomplish. Which properly means, he shall be pleased, or delighted. And the sense seems to be, As the poor mercenary rests and rejoices when he has finished the work of the day, and received his wages; so must that be an acceptable and joyful time, which puts a period to the life and sufferings of a man sinking under the burden of numerous and heavy troubles, and which introduces him into a state of perfect rest and endless felicity.
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 Seeing his days - are “determined” Since man is…
Seeing his days - are “determined” Since man is so frail, and so short-lived, let him alone, that he may pass his little time with some degree of comfort and then die; see the notes at Job 7:19-21. The word “determined” here means “fixed, settled.” God has fixed the number of his days, so that they cannot be exceeded; compare the notes at Isa 10:23, and notes at Psa 90:10.
The number of his months are with thee - Thou hast the ordering of them, or they are determined by thee.
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Thou hast appointed his bounds - Thou hast fixed a limit, or hast determined the time which he is to live, and he cannot go beyond it. There is no elixir of life that can prolong our days beyond that period. Soon we shall come to that outer limit of life, and then we must die. When that is we know not, and it is not desirable to know. It is better that it should be concealed. If we knew that it was near, it would fill us with gloom, and deter us from the efforts and the plans of life altogether. If it were remote, we should be careless and secure, and should think there was time enough yet to prepare to die. As it is, we know that the period is not very far distant; we know not but that it may be very near at hand, and we would be always ready.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain determined-- (Job 7:1; Isa 10:23; Dan 9:27; Dan 11:36).
determined-- (Job 7:1; Isa 10:23; Dan 9:27; Dan 11:36).
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 5. Seeing — Literally, “If his days are determined,”…
5. Seeing — Literally, “If his days are determined,” (as is the case.) This entire verse, with its three conditions, the two latter of which spring out of the former, is an hypothesis on which Job rests his touching appeal in ver.
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 5, 6. Man being of few days and full…
5, 6. Man being of few days and full of trouble Job pleads that God would not load him with uncommon afflictions, but leave him oppressed with no more than those natural to his short and evil life.
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.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Seeing his days are determined. Job here returns to…
Seeing his days are determined. Job here returns to the consideration of the shortness of man"s life. "His days are determined;" i.e. they are a limited period, known to and fixed beforehand by God. They are not like God"s days, which "endure throughout all generations". (Psa_102:24) The number of his months are with thee. "With thee" means here "known to thee," "laid up in thy counsels." Thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass. "His bounds" are "the limit of his lifetime." The three clauses are pleonastic. One idea pervades them all.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.