Job 14:1-3 New English Translation
The Brevity of Life
14 “Man, born of woman,[a]
lives but a few days,[b] and they are full of trouble.[c]
2 He grows up[d] like a flower and then withers away;[e]
he flees like a shadow, and does not remain.[f]
3 Do you fix your eye[g] on such a one?[h]
And do you bring me[i] before you for judgment?
Footnotes
- Job 14:1 tn The first of the threefold apposition for אָדָם (ʾadam, “man”) is “born of a woman.” The genitive (“woman”) after a passive participle denotes the agent of the action (see GKC 359 §116.l).
- Job 14:1 tn The second description is simply “[is] short of days.” The meaning here is that his life is short (“days” being put as the understatement for “years”).
- Job 14:1 tn The third expression is “consumed/full/sated—with/of—trouble/restlessness.” The latter word, רֹגֶז (rogez), occurred in Job 3:17; see also the idea in 10:15.
- Job 14:2 tn Heb יָצָא (yatsaʾ, “comes forth”). The perfect verb expresses characteristic action and so is translated by the present tense (see GKC 329 §111.s).
- Job 14:2 tn The verb וַיִּמָּל (vayyimmal) is from the root מָלַל (malal, “to languish; to wither”) and not from a different root מָלַל (malal, “to cut off”).
- Job 14:2 tn The verb is “and he does not stand.” Here the verb means “to stay fixed; to abide.” The shadow does not stay fixed, but continues to advance toward darkness.
- Job 14:3 tn Heb “open the eye on,” an idiom meaning to prepare to judge someone.
- Job 14:3 tn The verse opens with אַף־עַל־זֶה (ʾaf ʿal zeh), meaning “even on such a one!” It is an exclamation of surprise.
- Job 14:3 tn The text clearly has “me” as the accusative, but many wish to emend it to say “him” (אֹתוֹ, ʾoto). But D. J. A. Clines rightly rejects this in view of the way Job is written, often moving back and forth between his own tragedy and others’ tragedies (Job [WBC], 283).
New English Translation (NET)
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