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.
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.
- BSB For there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its tender shoots will not fail.
- 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 27:6He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.
- Isa 11:1And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:
- Job 14:14If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.
- Dan 4:23–25And whereas the king saw a watcher and an holy one coming down from heaven, and saying, Hew the tree down, and destroy it; yet leave the stump of the roots thereof in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts of the field, till seven times pass over him;
- Job 19:10He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone: and mine hope hath he removed like a tree.
- Dan 4:15Nevertheless leave the stump of his roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth:
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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 14:7 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
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