But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?
Parallel translations
- WEB But man dies, and is laid low. Yes, man gives up the spirit, and where is he?
- BSB But a man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last, and where is he?
- NKJV But man dies and is laid away; Indeed he breathes his last And where is he?
- NASB “But a man dies and lies prostrate. A person passes away, and where is he?
- NLT “But when people die, their strength is gone. They breathe their last, and then where are they?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Unlike a tree, man dies and seems simply to vanish. Job laments death's apparent finality for humans.
Overview
Job contrasts the tree's revival with man, who 'dies, and is laid low,' giving up his spirit, and then 'where is he?' From his limited vantage, human death looks final and irreversible. His haunting question awaits the fuller revelation of resurrection hope, secured in Christ, who answers 'where is he?' with the promise of life beyond the grave.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Job 19:26And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:
- Prov 14:32The wicked is driven away in his wickedness: but the righteous hath hope in his death.
- Gen 49:33And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.
- Job 7:7–10O remember that my life is wind: mine eye shall no more see good.
- Job 17:13–16If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness.
- Job 14:12So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.
- Job 11:20But the eyes of the wicked shall fail, and they shall not escape, and their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost.
- Acts 5:10Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband.
- Luke 16:22–23And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;
- Matt 27:50Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
- Job 3:11Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?
- Job 10:18Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb? Oh that I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me!
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 14:10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.