Job 14:21
in Job 14If his sons receive honor, he does not know it; if they are brought low, he is unaware.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
His sons come to honor, and he knoweth it not; And they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them.
KJV
His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them.
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This verse in Job 14
Commentary
10 notes on this verseA commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
One striking trait is selected from the sad picture of the severance of the dead from all that passes in the world (Ec 9:5), namely, the utter separation of parents and children.
This site's exposition
You forever overpower him
on Job 14:20-22
"You forever overpower him, and he passes on" states defeat as final. "You change his countenance and send him away" pictures death as a dismissal. "If his sons receive honor, he does not know it" carries the loss past death, the dead man unaware of his household's fortune.
This site's exposition
If his sons receive honor
The dead father is unaware when his sons receive honor or are brought low. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown set this beside Ecclesiastes 9:5, and Barnes notes that the honor that would most gladden a father never reaches him. Matthew Henry adds that God knows what comes of the sons.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"A person is punished," Job says, "and, even if he has many descendents, he does not know them. In fact, after his death, he is often deprived of the pleasures that he was accustomed to enjoy while alive. What is the pleasure of leaving children after one who has departed?" You see, everywhere Job emphasizes the ephemeral character of life. It is impossible to come back and to return down here. Even if he leaves children after him, he does not know how they will prosper. He does not know at all whether his descendants will be numerous or scarce. What is more painful than to ignore one's successes and to go away alone by only knowing one's afflictions? Even if something good happens to him after his death, he does not know, nor will he ever know it [in this life]; but what he surely knows now is that "his flesh is in pain and his soul mourns."
The Medieval Church2 voices
But someone could object that, although man does not return after death to life, he does not still pass away perpetually because he still lives on in a sense in his sons. The words of Baldath seem to have spoken to this theme when he …
Ver. 21. Whether his sons be in honour or dishonour, he perceiveth not. For as they, who are still living, know nothing of the souls of the dead, in what place they are held; so the dead, concerning the life of those living after them in the flesh, know not at all how it is ordered; in that both the life of the spirit is far from the life of the flesh, and as the corporeal and incorporeal are things different in kind, so are they parted in knowledge.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
He is going to that world where he will be a perfect stranger to all those things which here filled and affected him. The consideration of this should moderate our cares concerning our children and families. God will know what comes of them when we are gone.
His sons come to honour,....
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
His sons come to honor - When dead, he is equally indifferent and unconscious whether his children have met with a splendid or oppressive lot in life; for as to this world, when man dies, in that day all his thoughts perish.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not - He is unacquainted with what is passing on the earth. Even should that occur which is most gratifying to a parent’s heart; should his children rise to stations of honor and influence, he would not be permitted to enjoy the happiness which every father feels when his sons do well. This is suggested as one of the evils of death. They are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them - He is not permitted to sympathize with them, or to sustain them in their trials.
The words behind it
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יִכְבְּד֣וּ | yikhbedu | they are honored | H3513 → | 113 times |
| בָ֭נָיו | vanav | sons his | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| וְלֹ֣א | velo' | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יֵדָ֑ע | yeda' | he knows | H3045 → | 945 times |
| וְ֝יִצְעֲר֗וּ | veyitzaru | and they may be insignificant | H6819 → | |
| וְֽלֹא־ | velo'- | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יָבִ֥ין | yavin | he perceives | H995 → | 170 times |
| לָֽמוֹ׃ | lamo | <to> it |
יִכְבְּד֣וּthey are honored
yikhbeduH3513 →113 times
בָ֭נָיוsons his
vanavH1121 →4930 times
וְלֹ֣אand not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
יֵדָ֑עhe knows
yeda'H3045 →945 times
וְ֝יִצְעֲר֗וּand they may be insignificant
veyitzaruH6819 →
וְֽלֹא־and not
velo'-H3808 →5168 times
יָבִ֥יןhe perceives
yavinH995 →170 times
לָֽמוֹ׃<to> it
lamo
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 9:5For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing. They have no further reward, because the memory of them is forgotten.
it leads to
- Isaiah 26:14
The dead will not live; the departed spirits will not rise. Therefore You have punished and destroyed them; You have wiped out all memory of them.
- Ecclesiastes 1:11
There is no remembrance of those who came before, and those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow after.
- Psalms 6:5
For there is no mention of You in death; who can praise You from Sheol?
- Psalms 88:10–12
Do You work wonders for the dead? Do departed spirits rise up to praise You? Selah
- Hebrews 9:27
Just as man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment,
- Isaiah 26:14
Through
Isaiah 63:16Yet You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O LORD, are our Father; our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name.
it leads to
- Isaiah 64:8
But now, O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand.
- Malachi 2:10
Do we not all have one Father? Did not one God create us? Why then do we break faith with one another so as to profane the covenant of our fathers?
- Deuteronomy 32:6
Is this how you repay the LORD, O foolish and senseless people? Is He not your Father and Creator? Has He not made you and established you?
- Isaiah 64:8
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 on the Book of Job; 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 XII; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, COMMENTARY ON JOB 14:20-22; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.