¶“For there is hope for a tree, When it is cut down, that it will sprout again, And its 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.
- 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.
- 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 days to come, Jacob will take root. Israel will blossom and bud. They will fill the surface of the world with fruit.
- Isa 11:1A shoot will come out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots will bear fruit.
- Job 14:14If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my warfare would I wait, until my release should come.
- Dan 4:23–25Whereas the king saw a watcher and a holy one coming down from the sky, and saying, Cut down the tree, and destroy it; nevertheless leave the stump of its 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 the sky: and let his portion be with the animals of the field, until seven times pass over him;
- Job 19:10He has broken me down on every side, and I am gone. My hope he has plucked up like a tree.
- Dan 4:15Nevertheless leave the stump of its 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 the sky: and let his portion be with the animals 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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