Bible Strands
Job 14:2
Like a flower, he comes forth, then withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Job speaks directly to God, immediately after declaring in the preceding verse that man is "short of days and full of trouble." He is building the case that a creature this ephemeral should not be brought before divine judgment.
The words — יָצָא (yatsa', "he comes forth") marks the brief emergence; יַעֲמוֹד (ya'amod, "he remains/stands") is the verb negated by "and not," making the whole verse a coming-forth that fails to hold.
The thread — The flower/grass image recurs in Isaiah 40:6 and 1 Peter 1:24; the shadow image appears in Job 8:9.
Why it lands — The verse forces a reader to hold two facts together without resolving them: human life is genuinely brief, and God genuinely holds it accountable. It offers no comfort, only the weight of the question.
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
He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 40:6 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.
- 1 Peter 1:24 For, “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall,
- Job 8:9 For we were born yesterday and know nothing; our days on earth are but a shadow.
- Psalms 103:15 As for man, his days are like grass—he blooms like a flower of the field;
- 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.
- 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.
- James 1:10 But the one who is rich should exult in his low position, because he will pass away like a flower of the field.
- Psalms 144:4 Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.
- Psalms 102:11 My days are like lengthening shadows, and I wither away like grass.
- Job 9:25 My days are swifter than a runner; they flee without seeing good.