Job 14:11
New International Version
As the water of a lake dries up or a riverbed becomes parched and dry,

New Living Translation
As water evaporates from a lake and a river disappears in drought,

English Standard Version
As waters fail from a lake and a river wastes away and dries up,

Berean Standard Bible
As water disappears from the sea and a river becomes parched and dry,

King James Bible
As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up:

New King James Version
As water disappears from the sea, And a river becomes parched and dries up,

New American Standard Bible
As water evaporates from the sea, And a river becomes parched and dried up,

NASB 1995
“As water evaporates from the sea, And a river becomes parched and dried up,

NASB 1977
As water evaporates from the sea, And a river becomes parched and dried up,

Legacy Standard Bible
As water evaporates from the sea, And a river becomes parched and dried up,

Amplified Bible
“As water evaporates from the sea, And a river drains and dries up,

Christian Standard Bible
As water disappears from a lake and a river becomes parched and dry,

Holman Christian Standard Bible
As water disappears from the sea and a river becomes parched and dry,

American Standard Version
As the waters fail from the sea, And the river wasteth and drieth up;

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Waters disappear from the sea, and a river dwindles and dries up

Brenton Septuagint Translation
For the sea wastes in length of time, and a river fails and is dried up.

Contemporary English Version
We are like streams and lakes after the water has gone;

Douay-Rheims Bible
As if the waters should depart out of the sea, and an emptied river should be dried up:

English Revised Version
As the waters fail from the sea, and the river decayeth and drieth up;

GOD'S WORD® Translation
[As] water drains out of a lake, or [as] a river dries up completely,

Good News Translation
Like rivers that stop running, and lakes that go dry,

International Standard Version
As water disappears from the sea, or water evaporates from a river,

JPS Tanakh 1917
As the waters fail from the sea, And the river is drained dry;

Literal Standard Version
Waters have gone away from a sea, | And a river becomes waste and dry.

Majority Standard Bible
As water disappears from the sea and a river becomes parched and dry,

New American Bible
As when the waters of a lake fail, or a stream shrivels and dries up,

NET Bible
As water disappears from the sea, or a river drains away and dries up,

New Revised Standard Version
As waters fail from a lake, and a river wastes away and dries up,

New Heart English Bible
As the waters fail from the sea, and the river wastes and dries up,

Webster's Bible Translation
As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up:

World English Bible
As the waters fail from the sea, and the river wastes and dries up,

Young's Literal Translation
Waters have gone away from a sea, And a river becometh waste and dry.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Job Laments the Finality of Death
10But a man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last, and where is he? 11As water disappears from the sea and a river becomes parched and dry, 12so a man lies down and does not rise. Until the heavens are no more, he will not be awakened or roused from sleep.…

Cross References
Isaiah 19:5
The waters of the Nile will dry up, and the riverbed will be parched and empty.

Job 14:12
so a man lies down and does not rise. Until the heavens are no more, he will not be awakened or roused from sleep.


Treasury of Scripture

As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decays and dries up:

the flood

Job 6:15-18
My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass away; …

Jeremiah 15:18
Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuseth to be healed? wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar, and as waters that fail?

Jump to Previous
Decayeth Disappears Drained Dried Dries Drieth Dry Fail Flood Lake Parched Pool Recede River Riverbed Sea Waste Wastes Wasteth Water Waters
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Decayeth Disappears Drained Dried Dries Drieth Dry Fail Flood Lake Parched Pool Recede River Riverbed Sea Waste Wastes Wasteth Water Waters
Job 14
1. Job entreats God for favor, by the shortness of life, and certainty of death
7. He waits for his change
16. By sin the creature is subject to corruption














(11) As the waters fail from the sea seems commonly to have been misunderstood from its having been taken as a comparison; but there is no particle denoting comparison in the Hebrew. Moreover, the water never fails from the sea, nor do great rivers like the Nile or the Euphrates ever dry up. The comparison that is implied, but not expressed, is one of contrariety. The waters will have failed from the sea, and the rivers will have wasted and become dry, and yet the man who hath lain down (in death) will not arise: i.e., sooner than that shall happen, the sea will fail and the great rivers become dry. This appears to give a sense far better and more appropriate to the context. The Authorised Version obscures the obvious meaning of the passage by the introduction of the "as," which is not wanted. There is no hope of any future life, still less of any resurrection here; but neither can we regard the language as involving an absolute denial of it. What Job says is equally true even in full view of the life to come and of the resurrection; indeed, there seems to glimmer the hope of an ardent though unexpressed longing, through the very language that is used. At all events, the statement uttered so confidently is not proof against the inevitable doubt involved in Job 14:14.

Verse 11. - As the waters fail from the sea. The allusion seems to be to the actual desiccation of seas and rivers. Job, apparently, had known instances of both. A formation of new land in the place, of sea is always going on at the head of the Persian Gulf, through the deposits of the Tigris and Euphrates; and this formation was very rapid in ancient times, when the head of the gulf was narrower. The desiccation of river-courses is common in Mesopotamia, where arms thrown out by the Tigris and Euphrates get blocked, and then silted up. And the flood decayeth and drieth up; rather, and the river decayeth etc. (see the comment on the preceding clause).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
As water
מַ֭יִם (ma·yim)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 4325: Water, juice, urine, semen

disappears
אָֽזְלוּ־ (’ā·zə·lū-)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 235: To go away, to disappear

from
מִנִּי־ (min·nî-)
Preposition
Strong's 4480: A part of, from, out of

the sea
יָ֑ם (yām)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3220: A sea, the Mediterranean Sea, large river, an artifical basin

and a river
וְ֝נָהָ֗ר (wə·nā·hār)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 5104: A stream, prosperity

becomes parched
יֶחֱרַ֥ב (ye·ḥĕ·raḇ)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 2717: To parch, to desolate, destroy, kill

and dry,
וְיָבֵֽשׁ׃ (wə·yā·ḇêš)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 3001: To be ashamed, confused, disappointed, to dry up, wither


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OT Poetry: Job 14:11 As the waters fail from the sea (Jb)
Job 14:10
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