Job 14:5
in Job 14Since his days are determined and the number of his months is with You, and since You have set limits that he cannot exceed,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Seeing his days are determined, The number of his months is with thee, And thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;
KJV
Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;
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This verse in Job 14
Commentary
9 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Seeing his days - are “determined” Since man is so frail, and so short-lived, let him alone, that he may pass his little time with some degree of comfort and then die; see the notes at Job 7:19-21. The word “determined” here means “fixed, settled.” God has fixed the number of his days, so that they cannot be exceeded; compare the notes at Isa 10:23, and notes at Psa 90:10. The number of his months are with thee - Thou hast the ordering of them, or they are determined by thee.
This site's exposition
his days are determined
on Job 14:5-6
"Since his days are determined and the number of his months is with You" states the providence the whirlwind speeches set out. The plea to "look away from him and let him rest" asks for a hired hand's ease. Barnes notes a laborer who has earned a pause.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
A commentator
Clement of RomeClement's First Letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 17 · Written before 99.
proposed
Let us be imitators also of those who in goat-skins and sheep-skins went about proclaiming the coming of Christ; I mean Elijah, Elisha, and Ezekiel among the prophets, with those others to whom a like testimony is borne [in Scripture]. Abraham was specially honoured, and was called the friend of God; yet he, earnestly regarding the glory of God, humbly declared, "I am but dust and ashes." Moreover, it is thus written of Job, "Job was a righteous man, and blameless, truthful, God-fearing, and one that kept himself from all evil." But bringing an accusation against himself, he said, "No man is free from defilement, even if his life be but of one day." Moses was called faithful in all God's house; and through his instrumentality, God punished Egypt with plagues and tortures. Yet he, though thus greatly honoured, did not adopt lofty language, but said, when the divine oracle came to him out of the bush, "Who am I, that Thou sendest me? I am a man of a feeble voice and a slow tongue." And again he said, "I am but as the smoke of a pot."
You see Job taking refuge again in his nature, because it is impossible, he says, to be pure. [He implores God] not only because of our weakness or our ephemeral nature or the disheartening that fills our life, but because it is also impossible to be pure. "Stay away from me, so that I may be peaceful and satisfied about my life like a laborer." Job expresses again the ephemeral, miserable and unhappy character of life. "And since I am overwhelmed and unhappy, I ask only to be left in peace." Then Job demonstrates that human beings are the unhappiest of all, more than trees, rivers and the sea.
The Medieval Church2 voices
Ver. 5. The days of man are short, the number of his months is with Thee. For he sees that that as it were is not with us, which runs by with such great rapidity, but seeing that even things passing away stand with Almighty God, he declares that 'the number of our months is with Him.' Or, indeed, by the 'days,' the shortness of time is denoted, but by the 'months' the spaces of the days are multiplied.
Job had wondered about the divine esteem for men, since man is still of such a frail and unhappy condition, considered in the state of the present life. But this wonder would cease if one considers that after this life there is another life reserved …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
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. v. 26 .
2 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Seeing his days are determined,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Seeing his days are determined - The general term of human life is fixed by God himself; in vain are all attempts to prolong it beyond this term. Several attempts have been made in all nations to find an elixir that would expel all the seeds of disease, and keep men in continual health; but all these attempts have failed. Basil, Valentine, Norton, Dastin, Ripley, Sandivogius, Artephius, Geber, Van Helmont, Paracelsus, Philalethes, and several others, both in Europe and Asia, have written copiously on the subject, and have endeavored to prove that a tincture might be produced, by which all imperfect metals may be transmuted into perfect; and an elixir by which the human body may be kept in a state of endless repair and health. And these profess to teach the method by which this tincture and this elixir may be made! Yet all these are dead; and dead, for aught we know, comparatively young! Artephius is, indeed, said to have lived ninety years, which is probable; but some of his foolish disciples, to give credit to their thriftless craft, added another cipher, and made his age nine hundred! Man may endeavor to pass the bound; and God may, here and there, produce a Thomas Parr, who died in 1635, aged one hundred and fifty-two; and a Henry Jenkins, who died in 1670, aged one hundred and sixty-nine; but these are rare instances, and do not affect the general term. Nor can death be avoided. Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return, is the law, and that will ever render nugatory all such pretended tinctures and elixirs. […]
The words behind it
10 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אִ֥ם | ʾim | if | H518 → | 1069 times |
| חֲרוּצִ֨ים׀ | charutzim | [are] determined | H2782 → | |
| יָמָ֗יו | yamav | days his | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| מִֽסְפַּר־ | mispar- | [the] number of | H4557 → | 134 times |
| חֳדָשָׁ֥יו | chodashav | months his | H2320 → | |
| אִתָּ֑ךְ | ʾitakh | [is] with you | H854 → | 929 times |
| חֻקָּ֥יו | chukov | limits his | H2706 → | 127 times |
| עָ֝שִׂ֗יתָ | ʾasita | you have appointed | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| וְלֹ֣א | velo' | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יַעֲבֽוֹר׃ | yaavor | he will pass | H5674 → | 556 times |
אִ֥םif
ʾimH518 →1069 times
חֲרוּצִ֨ים׀[are] determined
charutzimH2782 →
יָמָ֗יוdays his
yamavH3117 →2304 times
מִֽסְפַּר־[the] number of
mispar-H4557 →134 times
חֳדָשָׁ֥יוmonths his
chodashavH2320 →
אִתָּ֑ךְ[is] with you
ʾitakhH854 →929 times
חֻקָּ֥יוlimits his
chukovH2706 →127 times
עָ֝שִׂ֗יתָyou have appointed
ʾasitaH6213 →2628 times
וְלֹ֣אand not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
יַעֲבֽוֹר׃he will pass
yaavorH5674 →556 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
Hebrews 9:27Just as man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment,
it leads to
- Ecclesiastes 12:7
before the dust returns to the ground from which it came and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 2 Corinthians 5:10
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive his due for the things done in the body, whether good or bad.
- Ecclesiastes 12:14
For God will bring every deed into judgment, along with every hidden thing, whether good or evil.
- Acts 17:31
For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead.”
- 2 Samuel 14:14
For surely we will die and be like water poured out on the ground, which cannot be recovered. Yet God does not take away a life; but He devises ways that the banished one…
- Ecclesiastes 12:7
Through
Acts 17:26From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 32:7–8
Remember the days of old; consider the years long past. Ask your father, and he will tell you, your elders, and they will inform you.
- Deuteronomy 32:7–8
Through
Psalms 39:4“Show me, O LORD, my end and the measure of my days. Let me know how fleeting my life is.
it leads to
- Psalms 90:12
So teach us to number our days, that we may present a heart of wisdom.
- Psalms 90:12
Through
Job 12:10The life of every living thing is in His hand, as well as the breath of all mankind.
it leads to
- Acts 17:25
Nor is He served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Acts 17:25
About Job
This page draws on 9 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); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Job; Clement of Rome, Clement's First Letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 17; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XII; John Chrysostom, COMMENTARY ON JOB 14:4-6; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.