Job 14:13

"so man lies down and doesn’t rise. Until the heavens are no more, they will not awake, nor be roused out of their sleep."

Key Reflection

So man lies down and doesn’t rise. Until the heavens are no more, they will not awake, nor be roused out of their sleep. For Job's original audience, this imagery would have starkly conveyed the permanence and finality of death. In a culture where the afterlife was uncertain, Job’s words underscored that once humans lie down in the grave, they do not rise again until the heavens themselves cease to exist—a vivid reminder of mortality and the unchangeable nature of death.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

Oh that thou wouldest hide me in the grave; -compare the notes atJob 3:11ff. Hebrew “in Sheol” -ב־שׁאולbı̂-she'ôl. Vulgate, “in inferno.” Septuagintἐν ἅδῃenHadē- “in Hades.” On the meaning of the word “Sheol,” see the notes atIsaiah 5:14. It does not mean here, I think, the grave. It means the region of departed spirits, the place of the dead, where he wished to be, until the tempest of the wrath of God should pass by. He wished to be shut up in some place where the fury of that tempest would not meet him, and where he would be safe. On the meaning of this passage, however, there has been considerable variety of opinion among expositors.

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