As the waters fail from the sea, and the river wastes and dries up,
Parallel translations
- KJV As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up:
- BSB As water disappears from the sea and a river becomes parched and dry,
- NKJV As water disappears from the sea, And a river becomes parched and dries up,
- NASB “As water evaporates from the sea, And a river becomes parched and dried up,
- NLT As water evaporates from a lake and a river disappears in drought,
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
Job compares death to waters that drain away and dry up. Human life seems to evaporate beyond recovery.
Overview
Using images of a sea failing and a river drying up, Job pictures the seeming permanence of death. As such waters do not return, so man appears to pass away for good. The comparison expresses his grief over mortality, setting up the longing for renewal he voices next.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Isa 19:5The waters will fail from the sea, and the river will be wasted and become dry.
- Jer 15:18Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed? Will you indeed be to me as a deceitful brook, like waters that fail?
- Job 6:15–18My brothers have dealt deceitfully as a brook, as the channel of brooks that pass away;
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 14:11 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.