Job 14:2
New International Version
They spring up like flowers and wither away; like fleeting shadows, they do not endure.

New Living Translation
We blossom like a flower and then wither. Like a passing shadow, we quickly disappear.

English Standard Version
He comes out like a flower and withers; he flees like a shadow and continues not.

Berean Standard Bible
Like a flower, he comes forth, then withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.

King James Bible
He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.

New King James Version
He comes forth like a flower and fades away; He flees like a shadow and does not continue.

New American Standard Bible
“Like a flower he comes out and withers. He also flees like a shadow and does not remain.

NASB 1995
“Like a flower he comes forth and withers. He also flees like a shadow and does not remain.

NASB 1977
“Like a flower he comes forth and withers. He also flees like a shadow and does not remain.

Legacy Standard Bible
Like a flower he comes forth and withers. He also flees like a shadow and does not stand.

Amplified Bible
“Like a flower he comes forth and withers; He also flees like a shadow and does not remain.

Christian Standard Bible
He blossoms like a flower, then withers; he flees like a shadow and does not last.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
He blossoms like a flower, then withers; he flees like a shadow and does not last.

American Standard Version
He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: He fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And like a flower he comes forth and dries up and fades and flees as a shadow and does not remain

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Or he falls like a flower that has bloomed; and he departs like a shadow, and cannot continue.

Contemporary English Version
We are flowers that fade and shadows that vanish.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Who cometh forth like a flower, and is destroyed, and fleeth as a shadow, and never continueth in the same state.

English Revised Version
He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
He comes up like a flower; then he withers. He is like a fleeting shadow; he doesn't stay long.

Good News Translation
We grow and wither as quickly as flowers; we disappear like shadows.

International Standard Version
He springs up like a flower and then withers. Like a shadow, he disappears and doesn't last.

JPS Tanakh 1917
He cometh forth like a flower, and withereth; He fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.

Literal Standard Version
As a flower he has gone forth, and is cut off, | And he flees as a shadow and does not stand.

Majority Standard Bible
Like a flower, he comes forth, then withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.

New American Bible
Like a flower that springs up and fades, swift as a shadow that does not abide.

NET Bible
He grows up like a flower and then withers away; he flees like a shadow, and does not remain.

New Revised Standard Version
comes up like a flower and withers, flees like a shadow and does not last.

New Heart English Bible
He comes forth like a flower, and is cut down. He also flees like a shadow, and doesn't continue.

Webster's Bible Translation
He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.

World English Bible
He grows up like a flower, and is cut down. He also flees like a shadow, and doesn’t continue.

Young's Literal Translation
As a flower he hath gone forth, and is cut off, And he fleeth as a shadow and standeth not.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Job Laments the Finality of Death
1“Man, who is born of woman, is short of days and full of trouble. 2Like a flower, he comes forth, then withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure. 3Do You open Your eyes to one like this? Will You bring him into judgment before You?…

Cross References
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.

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,

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.

Job 4:20
They are smashed to pieces from dawn to dusk; unnoticed, they perish forever.

Job 8:9
For we were born yesterday and know nothing; our days on earth are but a shadow.

Job 15:33
He will be like a vine stripped of its unripe grapes, like an olive tree that sheds its blossoms.

Psalm 37:2
For they wither quickly like grass and wilt like tender plants.


Treasury of Scripture

He comes forth like a flower, and is cut down: he flees also as a shadow, and continues not.

like

Psalm 90:5-9
Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up…

Psalm 92:7,12
When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed for ever: …

Psalm 103:15,16
As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth…

fleeth

Job 8:9
(For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow:)

Job 9:25,26
Now my days are swifter than a post: they flee away, they see no good…

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.

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Continue Continues Continueth Cut Endure Flees Fleeth Fleeting Flight Flower Forth Goes Shade Shadow Springs Standeth Withereth Withers
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Continue Continues Continueth Cut Endure Flees Fleeth Fleeting Flight Flower Forth Goes Shade Shadow Springs Standeth Withereth Withers
Job 14
1. Job entreats God for favor, by the shortness of life, and certainty of death
7. He waits for his change
16. By sin the creature is subject to corruption














Verse 2. - He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down. Few similes are more frequently used in Scripture (comp. Psalm 103:15; Isaiah 28:1, 4; Isaiah 40:6, 7; James 1:10, 11; 1 Peter 1:24), and certainly none could have more poetic beauty. Eastern flowers do not often last much more than a day. He fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not (comp. Job 7:2; Job 8:9; 1 Chronicles 29:15; Psalm 102:11; Psalm 109:23; Ecclesiastes 6:12, etc.). Shadows are always changing; but the shadows which flee away the fastest, and which Job has probably in his mind, are those of clouds, or other moving objects, which seem to chase each other over the earth, and never to continue for a single minute in one stay.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Like a flower,
כְּצִ֣יץ (kə·ṣîṣ)
Preposition-k | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 6731: Glistening, a burnished plate, a flower, a wing

he comes forth,
יָ֭צָא (yā·ṣā)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 3318: To go, bring, out, direct and proxim

then withers away;
וַיִּמָּ֑ל (way·yim·māl)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 5243: Branch to be cut down off, circumcise

like a fleeting shadow,
כַּ֝צֵּ֗ל (kaṣ·ṣêl)
Preposition-k, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 6738: A shadow

he does not
וְלֹ֣א (wə·lō)
Conjunctive waw | Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

endure.
יַעֲמֽוֹד׃ (ya·‘ă·mō·wḏ)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 5975: To stand, in various relations


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OT Poetry: Job 14:2 He comes forth like a flower (Jb)
Job 14:1
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