Job 14:7-9 New English Translation
The Inevitability of Death
7 “But there is hope for[a] a tree:[b]
If it is cut down, it will sprout again,
and its new shoots will not fail.
8 Although its roots may grow old[c] in the ground
and its stump begins to die[d] in the soil,[e]
9 at the scent[f] of water it will flourish[g]
and put forth[h] shoots like a new plant.
Footnotes
- Job 14:7 tn The genitive after the construct is one of advantage—it is hope for the tree.
- Job 14:7 sn The figure now changes to a tree for the discussion of the finality of death. At least the tree will sprout again when it is cut down. Why, Job wonders, should what has been granted to the tree not also be granted to humans?
- Job 14:8 tn The Hiphil of זָקַן (zaqan, “to be old”) is here an internal causative, “to grow old.”
- Job 14:8 tn The Hiphil is here classified as an inchoative Hiphil (see GKC 145 §53.e), for the tree only begins to die. In other words, it appears to be dead, but actually is not completely dead.
- Job 14:8 tn The LXX translates “dust” [soil] with “rock,” probably in light of the earlier illustration of the tree growing in the rocks.sn Job is thinking here of a tree that dies or decays because of a drought rather than being uprooted, because the next verse will tell how it can revive with water.
- Job 14:9 tn The personification adds to the comparison with people—the tree is credited with the sense of smell to detect the water.
- Job 14:9 tn The sense of “flourish” for this verb is found in Ps 92:12, 13 [13, 14 HT], and Prov 14:11. It makes an appropriate parallel with “bring forth boughs” in the second half.
- Job 14:9 tn Heb “and will make.”
New English Translation (NET)
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