“But when people die, their strength is gone. They breathe their last, and then where are they?
Parallel translations
- WEB But man dies, and is laid low. Yes, man gives up the spirit, and where is he?
- KJV But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, 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?
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 19:26After my skin is destroyed, then in my flesh shall I see God,
- Prov 14:32The wicked is brought down in his calamity, but in death, the righteous has a refuge.
- Gen 49:33When Jacob finished charging his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the spirit, and was gathered to his people.
- Job 7:7–10Oh remember that my life is a breath. My eye shall no more see good.
- Job 17:13–16If I look for Sheol as my house, if I have spread my couch in the darkness,
- Job 14:12so man lies down and doesn’t rise. Until the heavens are no more, they shall not awake, nor be roused out of their sleep.
- Job 11:20But the eyes of the wicked shall fail. They shall have no way to flee. Their hope shall be the giving up of the spirit.”
- Acts 5:10She fell down immediately at his feet, and died. The young men came in and found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her by her husband.
- Luke 16:22–23The beggar died, and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died, and was buried.
- Matt 27:50Jesus cried again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit.
- Job 3:11“Why didn’t I die from the womb? Why didn’t I give up the spirit when my mother bore me?
- Job 10:18“‘Why, then, have you brought me out of the womb? I wish I had given up the spirit, 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.