Bible Strands
Job 14:12
so a man lies down and does not rise. Until the heavens are no more, he will not be awakened or roused from sleep.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Job addresses God directly, framing human mortality as an irreversible sleep that follows the drying up of a river. He poses this observation immediately before pleading to be hidden in Sheol until divine anger passes.
The words — The Hebrew terms שָׁכַב (sha.Khav, “he lies down”) and יָקוּם (ya.Kum, “he will arise”) establish a permanent contrast between death and awakening. The phrase עַד־בִּלְתִּי שָׁמַיִם לֹא (“until heavens are no more”) anchors this finality to cosmic permanence.
The thread — This motif of irreversible death-sleep recurs in Job 3:13 and Job 10:21, both anticipating a final descent to darkness. Ecclesiastes 3:19 reinforces the observation by equating the mortal fate of humans and beasts.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that human life lacks inherent renewal, making mortality a fixed boundary rather than a temporary state. It forces the reader to confront the finality of death before any hope of divine intervention or resurrection can be considered.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.
Cross-references
- Job 10:21 before I go—never to return—to a land of darkness and gloom,
- Job 3:13 For now I would be lying down in peace; I would be asleep and at rest
- Ecclesiastes 3:19 For the fates of both men and beasts are the same: As one dies, so dies the other—they all have the same breath. Man has no advantage over the animals, since everything is futile.
- Isaiah 26:19 Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust! For your dew is like the dew of the morning, and the earth will bring forth her dead.
- 2 Peter 3:10 But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and its works will be laid bare.
- Job 30:23 Yes, I know that You will bring me down to death, to the place appointed for all the living.
- 2 Peter 3:7 And by that same word, the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
- Job 7:21 Why do You not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For soon I will lie down in the dust; You will seek me, but I will be no more.”
- Job 19:25 But I know that my Redeemer lives, and in the end He will stand upon the earth.
- Psalms 102:26 They will perish, but You remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing You will change them, and they will be passed on.