For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will yet sprout, and the branches thereof will not cease.

Though the root of it wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof be dead in the ground,

Yet by the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant.

10 [a]But man is sick, and dieth, and man perisheth, and where is he?

11 As the waters pass from the sea, and as the flood decayeth and drieth up,

12 So man sleepeth and riseth not: for he shall not wake again, nor be raised from his sleep till the heaven be no more.

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Footnotes

  1. Job 14:10 He speaketh not here as though he had not hope of the immortality, but as a man in extreme pain, when reason is overcome by affections and torments.

“At least there is hope for a tree:(A)
    If it is cut down, it will sprout again,
    and its new shoots(B) will not fail.(C)
Its roots may grow old in the ground
    and its stump(D) die in the soil,
yet at the scent of water(E) it will bud
    and put forth shoots like a plant.(F)
10 But a man dies and is laid low;(G)
    he breathes his last and is no more.(H)
11 As the water of a lake dries up
    or a riverbed becomes parched and dry,(I)
12 so he lies down and does not rise;(J)
    till the heavens are no more,(K) people will not awake
    or be roused from their sleep.(L)

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