Job 14:1
in Job 14“Man, who is born of woman, is short of days and full of trouble.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Man, that is born of a woman, Is of few days, and full of trouble.
KJV
Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.
⋯
This verse in Job 14
Commentary
10 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Man that is born of a woman - See the notes at Job 13:28. The object of Job in these verses, is to show the frailty and feebleness of man. He, therefore, dwells on many circumstances adapted to this, and this is one of the most stirring and beautiful. He alludes to the delicacy and feebleness, of the female sex, and says that the offspring of one so frail must himself be frail; the child of one so feeble must himself be feeble.
This site's exposition
who is born of woman
on Job 14:1-2
In the Old Testament the phrase "born of woman" belongs to this book alone. It returns at 15:14 from Eliphaz and 25:4 from Bildad, who turn Job's confession into an argument for man's uncleanness. "Like a flower, he comes forth, then withers away" measures a life in a single bloom.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
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 …
The Medieval Church2 voices
Since this last point is of particular value for the investigation of the truth, he insists more on clarifying this truth. What he had said about himself in particular he applies again generally to the whole human race. Here he first explains the frailty of …
Man that is born of a woman liveth a short time, and is full of many miseries. 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. But for frailty, as where it is said by the Wise Man, Better is the iniquity of a man than a woman doing well. For 'a man' is the term for every strongminded and discreet person, but 'a woman' is understood of the weak or indiscreet mind.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
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.
Man - A weak creature, and withal corrupt and sinful, and of that sex by which sin and all other calamity was brought into the world.
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Man that is born of a woman,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
woman--feeble, and in the East looked down upon (Ge 2:21). Man being born of one so frail must be frail himself (Mt 11:11). few days-- (Ge 47:9; Literally, "short of days." Man is the reverse of full of days and short of trouble.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+unbalanced-parens
Man - born of a woman - There is a delicacy in the original, not often observed: אדם ילוד אשה Adam yelud ishah, “Adam born of a woman, few of days, and full of tremor.” Adam, who did not spring from woman, but was immediately formed by God, had many days, for he lived nine hundred and thirty years; during which time neither sin nor death had multiplied in the earth, as they were found in the days of Job. But the Adam who springs now from woman, in the way of ordinary generation, has very few years. Seventy, on an average, being the highest term, may be well said to be few in days; and all matter of fact shows that they are full of fears and apprehensions, רגז rogez, cares, anxieties, and tremors. He seems born, not indeed to live, but to die; and, by living, he forfeits the title to life.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אָ֭דָם | ʾadom | a human being | H120 → | 551 times |
| יְל֣וּד | yelud | born of | H3205 → | 496 times |
| אִשָּׁ֑ה | ʾishah | a woman | H802 → | 781 times |
| קְצַ֥ר | ketzar | [is] short of | H7116 → | |
| יָ֝מִ֗ים | yamim | days | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| וּֽשְׂבַֽע־ | useva'- | and surfeited of | H7649 → | 10 times |
| רֹֽגֶז׃ | rogez | turmoil | H7267 → | 7 times |
אָ֭דָםa human being
ʾadomH120 →551 times
יְל֣וּדborn of
yeludH3205 →496 times
אִשָּׁ֑הa woman
ʾishahH802 →781 times
קְצַ֥ר[is] short of
ketzarH7116 →
יָ֝מִ֗יםdays
yamimH3117 →2304 times
וּֽשְׂבַֽע־and surfeited of
useva'-H7649 →10 times
רֹֽגֶז׃turmoil
rogezH7267 →7 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Ecclesiastes 2:23Indeed, all his days are filled with grief, and his task is sorrowful; even at night, his mind does not rest. This too is futile.
it leads to
- Job 5:7
Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Job 5:7
Through
Matthew 11:11Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet even the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
it leads to
- Luke 7:28
I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John, yet even the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”
- Ephesians 3:8
Though I am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,
- John 1:15
John testified concerning Him. He cried out, saying, “This is He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because He was before me.’”
- Matthew 3:11
I baptize you with water for repentance, but after me will come One more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and…
- Luke 7:28
Through
Job 25:4How then can a man be just before God? How can one born of woman be pure?
it leads to
- Romans 5:1
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
- Psalms 130:3
If You, O LORD, kept track of iniquities, then who, O Lord, could stand?
- Job 4:17–19
‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God, or a man more pure than his Maker?
- Romans 5:1
About Job
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XI; Hesychius of Jerusalem, HOMILIES ON JOB 16.14.1-2; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.