to go (causatively · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
flower
כְּצִ֣יץke.Tzitz
H6731
properly · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
down
וַיִּמָּ֑לvai.yi.Mal
H5243
to become clipped or (specifically) circumcised · conjunction + verb, niphal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
fleeth
וַיִּבְרַ֥חvai.yiv.Rach
H1272
to bolt · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
shadow
כַּ֝צֵּ֗לka.Tzel
H6738
shade · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
continueth
יַעֲמֽוֹדya.'a.Mod
H5975
to stand · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Isaiah 40:6-8 The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:
1 Peter 1:24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:
Job 8:9 (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow:)
Psalms 103:15-16 As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.
1 Chronicles 29:15 For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.
James 4:14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vani…
James 1:10-11 But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.
Psalms 144:4 Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 14:1-6
We are here led to think,
I. Of the original of human life. God is indeed its great original, for he breathed into man the breath of life and in him we live; but we date it from our birth, and thence we must date both its frailty and its pollution. 1. Its frailty: Man, that is born of a woman, is therefore of few days, Job 14:1. This may refer to the first woman, who was called Eve, because she was the mother of all living. Of her, who being deceived by the tempter was first in the transgression, we are all born, and consequently derive from her that sin and corruption which both shorten our days and sadden them. Or it may refer to every man's immediate mother. The woman is the weaker vessel…
He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down,.... As the flower comes from the earth, so does man; as it comes out of the stalk, so man out of his mother's womb; as the flower flourishes for a while, and looks gay and beautiful, so man while in youth, in health and prosperity. Job, doubtless, has respect to his own case before his troubles came upon him, when he was possessed of all that substance, which made him the greatest man of the east; when his children were like olive plants around his table, and his servants at his command, and he in perfect health of body: and as a flower flourishes for a little while, and then withers; no sooner is it come to its full blow, but presently decays;…
1 Man that is born of a woman,
Short of days and full of unrest,
2 Cometh forth as a flower and is cut down;
He fleeth as a shadow, and continueth not.
3 Moreover, Thou openest Thine eyes upon him,
And Thou drawest me before Thy tribunal.
Even if he yields to the restraint which his suffering imposes on him, to regard himself as a sinner undergoing punishment, he is not able to satisfy himself by thus persuading himself to this view of God's conduct towards him. How can God pass so strict a judgment on man, whose life is so short and full of sorrow, and which cannot possibly be pure from sin? - Job 14:1. אדם is followed by three clauses in apposition, or rather two, for אשּׁה ילוּד (lxx γενν…
The Church Fathers
He cometh forth like a flower, and is crushed: he fleeth also as a shadow, and never continueth in the same state. For, 'as a flower, he cometh forth,' in that he shews fair in the flesh; but he is 'crushed,' in that he is reduced to corruption. For what are men, as born in the world, but a kind of flowers in a field? Let us stretch our interior eyes over the breadth of the present world, and, lo, it is filled as it were with as many flowers as there are human beings. So life in this flesh is the flower in grass. Hence it is well said by the Psalmist, As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. Isaiah too saith, All flesh is grass, and all the glory thereof is as the flower of the field. For man cometh forth like a flower from concealment, and of a sudden shews himself in open day, and in a moment is by death withdrawn from open view into concealment again. The greenness of the flesh exhibits us to view, but the dryness of dust withdraws us from men's eyes. Like a flower we appeared, who were not; like a 'flower' we wither, who appeared only in time. And whereas man is daily being driven into death moment by moment, it is rightly added, He fleeth also as a shadow, and never continueth in the same state. But as the sun is unceasingly going through his course, and never stays himself in a state of stedfastness, why is the course of man's life likened to 'a shadow' rather than to the 'sun,' excepting that, when he parted with the love of the Creator, he lost the heat of the heart, and remained in the coldness of his iniquity alone? Since according to the voice of Truth, Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. He, then, who hath not warmth of the heart in the love of God, and yet keepeth not the life, which he loves, assuredly he 'fleeth like a shadow.' Hence it is well written concerning him, that he hath followed a shadow. Now it is well said, and never continueth in the same state. For whereas infancy is going on to childhood, childhood to youth, youth to manhood, and manhood to old age, and old age to death, in the course of the present life he is forced by the very steps of his increase upon those of decrease, and is ever wasting from the very cause whence he thinks himself to be gaining ground in the space of his life. For we cannot have a fixed stay here, whither we are come only to pass on; and…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Flowers — Very few species of flowers are mentioned in the Bible although they abounded in Palestine. It has been calculated that in Western Syria and Palestine from two thousand to two thousand five hundred…
Death · .BEING CUT DOWN — .BEING CUT DOWN
Death, Natural · Regard, as at hand — Regard, as at hand
Flowers · Illustrative of: Shortness of man’s life — Illustrative of: Shortness of man’s life
Life · BREVITY AND UNCERTAINTY OF — BREVITY AND UNCERTAINTY OF
Life, Natural · Is compared to: A flower — Is compared to: A flower
Readings, Select · THE BREVITY OF LIFE — THE BREVITY OF LIFE
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
