Job 14:2
in Job 14Like a flower, he comes forth, then withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: He fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
KJV
He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
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This verse in Job 14
Commentary
10 notes on this verseHe cometh forth like a flower - This is a frequent image both in the Old and New Testament writers; I need not quote the places here, as the readers will find them all in the margin. He fleeth also as a shadow - Himself, as he appears among men, is only the shadow of his real, substantial, and eternal being. He is here compared to a vegetable; he springs up, bears his flower is often nipped by disease, blasted by afflictions and at last cut down by death.
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.
This site's exposition
Like a flower, he comes forth
Barnes lists the places where Scripture uses this picture of the flower, among them Isaiah 40:6 and Psalm 103:15. Clarke adds that man, as he appears among men, is only the shadow of his true and eternal self. The days of man are short and fleeting.
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
He cometh forth like a flower, and is crushed: he fleeth also as a shadow, and never continueth in the same state. For, 'as a flower, he cometh forth,' in that he shews fair in the flesh; but he is 'crushed,' in that he is reduced to corruption. For what are men, as born in the world, but a kind of flowers in a field? Let us stretch our interior eyes over the breadth of the present world, and, lo, it is filled as it were with as many flowers as there are human beings.
Second he excludes those things in which a man can take glory; the first among these is the beauty of the body with which a man is strong in his youth. But this glory is nothing because it passes quickly like the flower. So he …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
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.
Flower - 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 in the shadows of night.
2 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down,.... As the flower comes from the earth, so does man; as it comes out of the stalk, so man out of his mother's womb; as the flower flourishes for a while, and looks gay and beautiful, so man while in youth, in health and prosperity.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down - Nothing can be more obvious and more beautiful than this, and the image has been employed by writers in all ages, but nowhere with more beauty, or with more frequency than in the Bible; see Isa 40:6; Psa 37:2; Psa 90:6; Psa 103:15. Next to the Bible, it is probable that Shakespeare has employed the image with the most exquisite beauty of any poet: This is the state of man; today he puts forth The tender leaves of hope, tomorrow blossoms, And bears his blushing honors thick upon him; The third day comes a frost a killing frost, And - when he thinks, good easy man, full surely His greatness is a ripening - nips his root, And then he falls. Henry viii. Act iii. Sc. 2. He fleeth also as a shadow - Another exquisite figure, and as true as it is beautiful. So the Psalmist: My days are like a shadow that declineth. Psa 102:11. Man is like to vanity; His days are as a shadowy that passeth away. Psa 144:4. The idea of Job is, that there is no substance, nothing that is permanent. A shadow moves on gently and silently, and is soon gone. It leaves no trace of its being, and returns no more. They who have watched the beautiful shadow of a cloud on a landscape, and have seen how rapidly it passes ever meadows and fields of grain, and rolls up the mountain side and disappears, will have a vivid conception of this figure. How gently yet how rapidly it moves. How soon it is gone. How void of impression is its course. Who can track its way; who can reach it? So man moves on. Soon he is gone; he leaves no trace of his being, and returns no more.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כְּצִ֣יץ | ketzitz | like a flower | H6731 → | |
| יָ֭צָא | yatza' | he comes forth | H3318 → | 1067 times |
| וַיִּמָּ֑ל | vaiyimal | and he withered | H5243 → | 4 times |
| וַיִּבְרַ֥ח | vaiyivrach | and he fled | H1272 → | 63 times |
| כַּ֝צֵּ֗ל | katzel | like <the> shadow | H6738 → | 49 times |
| וְלֹ֣א | velo' | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יַעֲמֽוֹד׃ | yaamod | he remains | H5975 → | 521 times |
כְּצִ֣יץlike a flower
ketzitzH6731 →
יָ֭צָאhe comes forth
yatza'H3318 →1067 times
וַיִּמָּ֑לand he withered
vaiyimalH5243 →4 times
וַיִּבְרַ֥חand he fled
vaiyivrachH1272 →63 times
כַּ֝צֵּ֗לlike <the> shadow
katzelH6738 →49 times
וְלֹ֣אand not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
יַעֲמֽוֹד׃he remains
yaamodH5975 →521 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
1 Peter 1:24For, “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall,
it leads to
- Isaiah 40:6–8
A voice says, “Cry out!” And I asked, “What should I cry out?” “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field.
- James 4:14
You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 103:15
As for man, his days are like grass— he blooms like a flower of the field;
- James 1:10–11
But the one who is rich should exult in his low position, because he will pass away like a flower of the field.
- Psalms 37:2
For they wither quickly like grass and wilt like tender plants.
- Isaiah 40:6–8
Through
Job 8:9For we were born yesterday and know nothing; our days on earth are but a shadow.
it leads to
- Psalms 144:4
Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 Chronicles 29:15
For we are foreigners and strangers in Your presence, as were all our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope.
- Psalms 144:4
Through
1 Chronicles 29:15For we are foreigners and strangers in Your presence, as were all our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope.
it leads to
- Psalms 102:11
My days are like lengthening shadows, and I wither away like grass.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 102:11
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; 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; 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.
