His sons come to honor, and he doesn’t know it. They are brought low, but he doesn’t perceive it of them.
Parallel translations
- KJV His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them.
- BSB If his sons receive honor, he does not know it; if they are brought low, he is unaware.
- NKJV His sons come to honor, and he does not know it; They are brought low, and he does not perceive it.
- NASB “His sons achieve honor, but he does not know it; Or they become insignificant, and he does not perceive it.
- NLT They never know if their children grow up in honor or sink to insignificance.
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 observes that the dead know nothing of their children's fate. Death cuts a person off from earthly affairs.
Overview
Job notes that a dead man does not know whether his sons rise to honor or are brought low. The departed are unaware of what happens among the living. This reflects the limited Old Testament perspective on the state of the dead and deepens Job's sense of death's isolation, awaiting the fuller light of the resurrection.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Eccl 9:5For the living know that they will die, but the dead don’t know anything, neither do they have any more a reward; for their memory is forgotten.
- Eccl 2:18–19I hated all my labor in which I labored under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who comes after me.
- Isa 63:16For you are our Father, though Abraham doesn’t know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, Yahweh, are our Father. Our Redeemer from everlasting is your name.
- Isa 39:7–8‘They will take away your sons who will issue from you, whom you shall father, and they will be eunuchs in the king of Babylon’s palace.’”
- Ps 39:6“Surely every man walks like a shadow. Surely they busy themselves in vain. He heaps up, and doesn’t know who shall gather.
- 1 Sam 4:20About the time of her death the women who stood by her said to her, “Don’t be afraid; for you have given birth to a son.” But she didn’t answer, neither did she regard it.
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 14:21 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.