Job 14:8

If its roots grow old in the ground and its stump dies in the soil,

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — Job addresses his companions in a discourse on human mortality, contrasting the resilience of a felled tree with the fragility of human life.

The words — The Hebrew יַזְקִ֣ין (yaz.Kin) translates literally to "it will grow old," and שָרְשׁ֑/וֹ (sha.re.Sh/o) means "its root."

The thread — This botanical decay motif appears in 1 Corinthians 15:36 and John 12:24, where dying seeds and kernels symbolize the mechanism of new life.

Why it lands — The text states that roots age and stumps die in the soil, establishing physical decay as an absolute boundary. This demands the reader acknowledge the finality of bodily death before any theological hope can be addressed.

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

אִם־'im-though יַזְקִ֣יןyaz.Kinit will grow old בָּאָ֣רֶץba./'A.retzin the/ ground שָׁרְשׁ֑וֹsha.re.Sh/oroot/ its וּ֝בֶעָפָ֗רu./ve./'a.Farand/ in the/ dust יָמ֥וּתya.Mutit will die גִּזְעֽוֹ׃giz.'/Ostump/ its

King James Version

Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground;

Cross-references

1 Corinthians 15:36 You fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.
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.
John 12:24 Truly, truly, I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a seed. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.