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Commentary on Job 14 verses 1–6
We are here led to think,
I. Of the original of human life. God is indeed its great original, for he breathed into man the breath of life and in him we live; but we date it from our birth, and thence we must date both its frailty and its pollution. 1. Its frailty: Man, that is born of a woman, is therefore of few days, Job 14:1. This may refer to the first woman, who was called Eve, because she was the mother of all living. Of her, who being deceived by the tempter was first in the transgression, we are all born, and consequently derive from her that sin and corruption which both shorten our days and sadden them. Or it may refer to every man's immediate mother. The woman is the weaker vessel, and we know that partus sequitur ventrem - the child takes after the mother. Let not the strong man therefore glory in his strength, or in the strength of his father, but remember that he is born of a woman, and that, when God pleases, the mighty men become as women, Jer 51:30. 2. Its pollution (Job 14:4): Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? If man be born of a woman that is a sinner, how can it be otherwise than that he should be a sinner? See Job 25:4. How can he be clean that is born of a woman? Clean children cannot come from unclean parents any more than pure streams from an impure spring or grapes from thorns. Our habitual corruption is derived with our nature from our parents, and is therefore bred in the bone. Our blood is not only attainted by a legal conviction, but tainted with an hereditary disease. Our Lord Jesus, being made sin for us, is said to be made of a woman, Gal 4:4.
II. Of the nature of human life: it is a flower, it is a shadow, Job 14:2. The flower is fading, and all its beauty soon withers and is gone. The shadow is fleeting, and its very being will soon be lost and drowned in the shadows of the night. Of neither do we make any account; in neither do we put any confidence.
III. Of the shortness and uncertainty of human life: Man is of few days. Life is here computed, not by months or years, but by days, for we cannot be sure of any day but that it may be our last. These days are few, fewer than we think of, few at the most, in comparison with the days of the first patriarchs, much more in comparison with the days of eternity, but much fewer to most, who come short of what we call the age of man. Man sometimes no sooner comes forth than he is cut down - comes forth out of the womb than he dies in the cradle - comes forth into the world and enters into the business of it than he is hurried away as soon as he has laid his hand to the plough. If not cut down immediately, yet he flees as a shadow, and never continues in one stay, in one shape, but the fashion of it passes away; so does this world, and our life in it, Co1 7:31.
IV. Of the calamitous state of human life. Man, as he is short-lived, so he is sad-lived. Though he had but a few days to spend here, yet, if he might rejoice in those few, it were well (a short life and a merry one is the boast of some); but it is not so. During these few days he is full of trouble, not only troubled, but full of trouble, either toiling or fretting, grieving or fearing. No day passes without some vexation, some hurry, some disorder or other. Those that are fond of the world shall have enough of it. He is satur tremore - full of commotion. The fewness of his days creates him a continual trouble and uneasiness in expectation of the period of them, and he always hangs in doubt of his life. Yet, since man's days are so full of trouble, it is well that they are few, that the soul's imprisonment in the body, and banishment from the Lord, are not perpetual, are not long. When we come to heaven our days will be many, and perfectly free from trouble, and in the mean time faith, hope, and love, balance the present grievances.
V. Of the sinfulness of human life, arising from the sinfulness of the human nature. So some understand that question (Job 14:4), Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? - a clean performance from an unclean principle? Note, Actual transgressions are the natural product of habitual corruption, which is therefore called original sin, because it is the original of all our sins. This holy Job here laments, as all that are sanctified do, running up the streams to the fountain (Psa 51:5); and some think he intends it as a plea with God for compassion: "Lord, be not extreme to mark my sins of human frailty and infirmity, for thou knowest my weakness. O remember that I am flesh!" The Chaldee paraphrase has an observable reading of this verse: Who can make a man clean that is polluted with sin? Cannot one? that is, God. Or who but God, who is one, and will spare him? God, by his almighty grace, can change the skin of the Ethiopian, the skin of Job, though clothed with worms.
VI. Of the settled period of human life, v. 5.
1.Three things we are here assured of: - (1.) That our life will come to an end; our days upon earth are not numberless, are not endless, no, they are numbered, and will soon be finished, Dan 5:26. (2.) That it is determined, in the counsel and decree of God, how long we shall live and when we shall die. The number of our months is with God, at the disposal of his power, which cannot be controlled, and under the view of his omniscience, which cannot be deceived. It is certain that God's providence has the ordering of the period of our lives; our times are in his hand. The powers of nature depend upon him, and act under him. In him we live and move. Diseases are his servants; he kills and makes alive. Nothing comes to pass by chance, no, not the execution done by a bow drawn at a venture. It is therefore certain that God's prescience has determined it before; for known unto God are all his works. Whatever he does he determined, yet with a regard partly to the settled course of nature (the end and the means are determined together) and to the settled rules of moral government, punishing evil and rewarding good in this life. We are no more governed by the Stoic's blind fate than by the Epicurean's blind fortune. (3.) That the bounds God has fixed we cannot pass; for his counsels are unalterable, his foresight being infallible.
2.These considerations Job here urges as reasons, (1.) Why God should not be so strict in taking cognizance of him and of his slips and failings (Job 14:3): "Since I have such a corrupt nature within, and am liable to so much trouble, which is a constant temptation from without, dost thou open thy eyes and fasten them upon such a one, extremely to mark what I do amiss? Job 13:27. And dost thou bring me, such a worthless worm as I am, into judgment with thee who art so quick sighted to discover the least failing, so holy to hate it, so just to condemn it, and so mighty to punish it?" The consideration of our own inability to contend with God, of our own sinfulness and weakness, should engage us to pray, Lord, enter not into judgment with thy servant. (2.) Why he should not be so severe in his dealings with him: "Lord, I have but a little time to live. I must certainly and shortly go hence, and the few days I have to spend here are, at the best, full of trouble. O let me have a little respite! Job 14:6. Turn from afflicting a poor creature thus, and let him rest awhile; allow him some breathing time, until he shall accomplish as a hireling his day. It is appointed to me once to die; let that one day suffice me, and let me not thus be continually dying, dying a thousand deaths. Let it suffice that my life, at best, is as the day of a hireling, a day of toil and labour. I am content to accomplish that, and will make the best of the common hardships of human life, the burden and heat of the day; but let me not feel those uncommon tortures, let not my life be as the day of a malefactor, all execution-day." Thus may we find some relief under great troubles by recommending ourselves to the compassion of that God who knows our frame and will consider it, and our being out of frame too.
Man, who is born of a woman, “has a short life,” because he has been ordered to return to the earth. With regard to the expression “full of wrath,” Job thinks about that moment in which man received the order to observe the commandment but transgressed it. And therefore “like a flower that has finished blooming, he fell after being shaken”; he bloomed in paradise, so that he imposed a name on every animal. But “he fell after being shaken,” when Adam was enticed into the deception of the dragon. At that stage “he fled like a shadow,” because, being naked, he concealed himself away from God and hid under a tree of the paradise. When God called him, “Adam, where are you?” he did not show up.… Therefore our hope was destroyed. Since he had fallen from paradise, man was deprived of his goods and perished completely, because with a single blow he was condemned as someone who had fallen, without any possibility for us to hope of judgment. In fact, if there is hope for judgment, there is also hope for crowns.
65. In Sacred Writ ‘woman’ is taken either for the sex, or else for ‘frailty.’ For the ‘sex,’ as where it is written, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the Law [Gal. 4, 4]. But for frailty, as where it is said by the Wise Man, Better is the iniquity of a man than a woman doing well. [Ecclus. 42, 14] For ‘a man’ is the term for every strongminded and discreet person, but ‘a woman’ is understood of the weak or indiscreet mind. And it often happens that even the discreet person suddenly falls into a fault, and that another weak and indiscreet man exhibits good practice. But he that is weak and indiscreet is sometimes lifted up the more on the score of what he has done well, and falls the worse into sin; but the discreet person even from that which he sees that he has done amiss, takes occasion to recall himself with closer application to the rule of strictness, and advances the further in righteousness from the same act, whereby he seemed to have fallen from righteousness for a time. In which respect it is rightly said, Better is the iniquity of a man than a woman doing well; in that sometimes the very fault of the strong becomes occasion of virtue, and the virtue of the weak occasion of sin. In this place then by the name of ‘a woman,’ what else but ‘frailty’ is denoted, when it is said, Man that is born of a woman? As if it were said in plainer words, ‘What strength shall he have in himself, who was born in frailty?’
66. Liveth a short time, and is full of many miseries. Observe by the holy man’s words we have the punishment of man briefly set forth, in that he is at once stinted in life and filled out in misery. For if we consider with exactness all that is done here, it is punishment and misery. For to minister to the corruption of the flesh by itself in things necessary and permitted is misery, in such measure that clothing should be sought out against cold, food against hunger, coolness against heat. That the health of the body is kept only with great care, that even when kept it is lost, when lost it is recovered not without great difficulty, and yet after being restored is always in risk; what else is this than the misery of the life of mortality? That we love our friends, mistrusting lest they may be offended with us; that we dread our enemies, and truly are not secure touching those whom we dread; that we often talk to our enemies as confidentially as to friends, and often take the sincere words of our friends, and those, perhaps, that love us very much, as the words of enemies; and that we, who wish never either to be deceived or to deceive, err the more by our caution; what, then, is all this but the misery of man’s life? That after the heavenly country has been lost, banished man is delighted with his exile, that he is weighed down with cares, and yet shuts his eyes to considering how great the burthen is, in that he is full of a multitude of thoughts; that he is deprived of the interior light, and yet in this life wishes to prolong his state of blindness; what else is this but misery, the offspring of our punishment? Yet though he desire to stay here for long, still he is driven on by the mere current of his mortal life to depart out of it.
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SUMMARY
Job 14:1 offers a poignant and universal lament on the human condition, articulated by Job in the depths of his suffering. This verse encapsulates a somber truth: human life, from its very inception, is inherently brief and perpetually beset by hardship and distress. It serves as a foundational statement for Job's subsequent plea, highlighting the perceived futility and profound fragility of existence when viewed through the lens of pain, transience, and the relentless onslaught of affliction.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Job 14:1 masterfully employs several literary devices to convey its somber and profound message. The most pervasive device is Lament, as the entire chapter functions as a deeply personal and anguished expression of grief, despair, and existential questioning from Job's perspective. The phrase "Man [that is] born of a woman" serves as a powerful form of Synecdoche, where a specific part (birth from a woman) represents the whole (the universal human condition of vulnerability, mortality, and dependence). The statement "full of trouble" can be interpreted as Hyperbole, an intentional exaggeration used to emphasize the overwhelming and pervasive nature of suffering from Job's perspective, though it resonates deeply with the human experience in a fallen world. Furthermore, there is a subtle but impactful Juxtaposition between the extreme brevity of life ("of few days") and the abundance of suffering ("full of trouble"), highlighting the perceived unfairness or disproportionate burden of human existence.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Job 14:1 presents a stark and honest theological anthropology, emphasizing humanity's inherent fragility and the pervasive reality of suffering in a fallen world. While spoken from Job's personal anguish, it resonates with broader biblical themes concerning the pervasive effects of sin on creation and the human condition. It acknowledges the transient nature of earthly life and the universal experience of hardship, prompting deeper questions about divine justice, the purpose of suffering, and the ultimate hope for humanity. This verse underscores the profound human need for a transcendent answer to life's brevity and troubles, pointing towards a hope that extends beyond the limitations and sorrows of this mortal existence.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Job 14:1, though born of profound despair, offers a deeply honest and universally relatable acknowledgment of the human condition. It serves as a stark reminder that suffering is not an anomaly but an inherent and pervasive part of life in a fallen world—a shared experience that transcends cultural, historical, and socio-economic boundaries. This verse can foster profound empathy and compassion for all humanity, reminding us that no one is immune to the "trouble" that often fills our "few days." It challenges us to confront the reality of our mortality and the brevity of our time on earth, prompting us to consider what truly matters, how we might steward our limited days, and how we can live lives of meaning and purpose in the face of inevitable hardship. Rather than leading to despair, this raw honesty can serve as a catalyst for seeking deeper truth, enduring comfort, and ultimate hope that transcends the limitations and sorrows of this earthly existence. It calls us to look beyond ourselves and our immediate circumstances for a source of strength, peace, and eternal perspective that can sustain us through life's inevitable troubles.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Is Job 14:1 a universal theological statement about God's intent for humanity?
Answer: While Job 14:1 describes a universal human experience, it is primarily a lament spoken from Job's perspective of profound suffering, not a definitive theological statement from God about His original design or ultimate purpose for humanity. It reflects the reality of life in a fallen world, where sin has introduced decay, pain, and mortality. The Bible teaches that God originally created humanity for eternal life and fellowship in a perfect world, as detailed in Genesis 2:7-9, where Adam and Eve lived in paradise. However, the Fall brought about death, suffering, and toil, as described in Genesis 3:17-19. Thus, Job's observation is a realistic assessment of life under the sun (a phrase often used in Ecclesiastes), acknowledging the consequences of sin and the brokenness of creation, rather than an indictment of God's initial benevolent design.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Job's lament in Job 14:1, with its stark portrayal of humanity as "born of a woman," "of few days, and full of trouble," profoundly highlights the human predicament that finds its ultimate and glorious resolution only in Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself was truly "born of a woman," as affirmed in Galatians 4:4, fully entering into the human condition in every respect, yet He was uniquely "without sin" (Hebrews 4:15). While His earthly life was indeed "of few days" (approximately 33 years) and certainly "full of trouble"—marked by profound rejection, intense temptation, immense suffering, and ultimately the agonizing death on the cross (Isaiah 53:3), He transformed the very meaning of human suffering. Through His perfect life, atoning death, and glorious resurrection, Christ conquered the very powers that bring about the brevity and trouble of human existence: sin and death. He offers eternal life, transcending our "few days" (John 3:16), and promises a future where there will be no more tears, pain, or trouble (Revelation 21:4). In Christ, the despair of Job's lament is replaced with an enduring hope, as He is the ultimate answer to humanity's deepest cries for meaning, redemption, and lasting peace in the face of a short and troubled life.