Job 14:15
in Job 14You will call, and I will answer; You will desire the work of Your hands.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thou wouldest call, and I would answer thee: Thou wouldest have a desire to the work of thy hands.
KJV
Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands.
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This verse in Job 14
Commentary
12 notes on this verseVer. 15. Thou shalt call me, and I will answer Thee. We are said to answer anyone, when we do works in turn answerable to his deeds. Thus in that change the Lord 'calls,' and man 'answers,' in that, before the brightness of The Incorrupt, man is shewn forth incorrupt after corruption. For now so long as we are subject to corruption, we do not in any wise 'answer' our Creator, seeing that whereas corruption is far from incorruption, there is no similarity suitable to our answering.
This site's exposition
If only You would hide me in Sheol
on Job 14:13-15
"When a man dies, will he live again?" states the book's central question, a hope 19:25 carries further. "I will wait, until my renewal comes" turns the question into resolve, and "You will call, and I will answer" answers his demand of 13:22.
This site's exposition
You will desire the work of Your hands
Clarke hears God's call at the resurrection, with body and soul joined at His word, and gives the verb for desire as to long for. Barnes reads the call as a summons to court in Job's own day. God longs for the work of His hands.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
Since Job wants to show that not only the body is resurrected but also the soul whose thoughts are fixed on God, he says, "You would call, and I would answer you." For listening when God calls is a quality of a creature endowed with …
The Medieval Church1 voice
He excludes man being transformed in the state of the other life by natural power saying, "You will call me and I will answer you," as if to say: The future transformation will proceed from the power of your voice or your command, as John …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Answer thee - Thou shalt call my soul to thyself: and I will cheerfully answer, Here I am: knowing thou wilt have a desire to the work of thy hands - A love for the soul which thou hast made, and new-made by thy grace.
Thou hast mercy in store for me, not only as made by thy providence, but new-made by thy grace;" otherwise he that made them will not save them. Note, Grace in the soul is the work of God's own hands, and therefore he will not forsake it in this world ( Ps. cxxxviii. 8 ), but will have a desire to it, to perfect it in the other, and to crown it with endless glory.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
Thou shall call, and I will answer thee,....
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
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. Its frailty: Man, that is born of a woman, is therefore of few days,
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee - This is language taken from courts of justice. It refers, probably, not to a future time, but to the present. “Call thou now, and I will respond.” It expresses a desire to come at once to trial; to have the matter adjusted before he should leave the world. He could not bear the idea of going out of the world under the imputations which were lying on him, and he asked for an opportunity to vindicate himself before his Maker; compare the notes at Job 9:
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Ps 84:2), implying the utter unlikelihood that God would leave in oblivion the "creature of His own hands so fearfully and wonderfully made." It is objected that if Job knew of a future retribution, he would make it the leading topic in solving the problem of the permitted afflictions of the righteous.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Thou shalt call - Thou shalt say There shall be time no longer: Awake, ye dead! and come to judgment! And I will answer thee - My dissolved frame shall be united at thy call; and body and soul shall be rejoined. Thou wilt have a desire - תכסף tichsoph, “Thou wilt pant with desire;” or, “Thou wilt yearn over the work of thy hands.” God has subjected the creature to vanity, in hope; having determined the resurrection. Man is one of the noblest works of God. He has exhibited him as a master-piece of his creative skill, power, and goodness. Nothing less than the strongest call upon justice could have induced him thus to destroy the work of his hands. No wonder that he has an earnest desire towards it; and that although man dies, and is as water spilt upon the ground that cannot be gathered up again; yet doth he devise means that his banished be not expelled from him. Even God is represented as earnestly longing for the ultimate reviviscence of the sleeping dust. He cannot, he will not, forget the work of his hands.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
Call This is a supplication. Call to me and I will answer you to prove my case.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 6 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| תִּ֭קְרָא | tikra' | you will call | H7121 → | 733 times |
| וְאָנֹכִ֣י | veanokhi | and I | H595 → | 359 times |
| אֶֽעֱנֶ֑ךָּ | ʾeeneka | I will answer you | H6030 → | 331 times |
| לְֽמַעֲשֵׂ֖ה | lemaaseh | for [the] work of | H4639 → | 236 times |
| יָדֶ֣יךָ | yadeikha | hands your | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| תִכְסֹֽף׃ | tikhsof | you will long | H3700 → |
תִּ֭קְרָאyou will call
tikra'H7121 →733 times
וְאָנֹכִ֣יand I
veanokhiH595 →359 times
אֶֽעֱנֶ֑ךָּI will answer you
ʾeenekaH6030 →331 times
לְֽמַעֲשֵׂ֖הfor [the] work of
lemaasehH4639 →236 times
יָדֶ֣יךָhands your
yadeikhaH3027 →1618 times
תִכְסֹֽף׃you will long
tikhsofH3700 →
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
Psalms 138:8The LORD will fulfill His purpose for me. O LORD, Your loving devotion endures forever— do not abandon the works of Your hands.
it leads to
- Philippians 1:6
being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
- Psalms 57:2
I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills His purpose for me.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:24
The One who calls you is faithful, and He will do it.
- Isaiah 26:12
O LORD, You will establish peace for us. For all that we have accomplished, You have done for us.
- Psalms 136:1
Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good. His loving devotion endures forever.
- Philippians 1:6
Through
1 Peter 4:19So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should entrust their souls to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.
it leads to
- Psalms 37:5
Commit your way to the LORD; trust in Him, and He will do it.
- 2 Timothy 1:12
For this reason, even though I suffer as I do, I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have…
- 1 Peter 3:17
For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
- Psalms 37:5
About Job
This page draws on 11 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; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Didymus the Blind, COMMENTARY ON JOB 14:15B; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XII; Gregory the Great, Morals on the Book of Job; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; 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.