For there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its tender shoots will not fail.
Parallel translations
- WEB “For there is hope for a tree, If it is cut down, that it will sprout again, that the tender branch of it will not cease.
- KJV For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.
- NKJV “For there is hope for a tree, If it is cut down, that it will sprout again, And that its tender shoots will not cease.
- NASB ¶“For there is hope for a tree, When it is cut down, that it will sprout again, And its shoots will not fail.
- NLT “Even a tree has more hope! If it is cut down, it will sprout again and grow new branches.
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 notes that a felled tree may sprout again, holding out hope. Even cut down, a tree can revive.
Overview
Job observes that 'there is hope for a tree': though cut down, it may sprout again with tender branches. He sets up a contrast between the tree's renewal and human death. The longing that follows hints at a hope for resurrection that the New Testament reveals fully in the risen Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Isa 27:6In the days to come, Jacob will take root. Israel will bud and blossom and fill the whole world with fruit.
- Isa 11:1Then a shoot will spring up from the stump of Jesse, and a Branch from his roots will bear fruit.
- Job 14:14When a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait, until my renewal comes.
- Dan 4:23–25And you, O king, saw a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven and saying: ‘Cut down the tree and destroy it, but leave the stump with its roots in the ground, and a band of iron and bronze around it, in the tender grass of the field. Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven, and graze with the beasts of the field till seven times pass him by.’
- Job 19:10He tears me down on every side until I am gone; He uproots my hope like a tree.
- Dan 4:15But leave the stump with its roots in the ground, and a band of iron and bronze around it, in the tender grass of the field. Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven and graze with the beasts on the grass of the earth.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 14:7 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.