so man lies down and does not rise; until the heavens are no more, ¹  they ²  will not awake nor arise from their sleep.

biblegateway Job 14:12

So man lies down and does not rise. Until the heavens are no longer, He will not awake nor be aroused out of his sleep.

so man lies down never to rise again. They will not wake up until the heavens are no more; they will not stir from their sleep.

so each person lies down and does not rise until the heavens cease to exist. He does not wake up. He is not awakened from his sleep.

biblegateway Job 14:12

so man lies down and does not rise; till the heavens are no more, men will not awake or be roused from their sleep.

so a man lies down and rises not again; till the heavens are no more he will not awake or be roused out of his sleep.

bibleoremus Job 14:12

so mortals lie down and do not rise again; until the heavens are no more, they will not awake or be roused out of their sleep.

so mortal man lies down, never to rise until the very sky splits open. If a man dies, can he live again? He can never be roused from this sleep.

biblegateway Job 14:12

So man lies down and does not rise. Till the heavens are no more, They will not awake Nor be roused from their sleep.

So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens [be] no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.

biblegateway Job 14:12

so man lies down and does not rise; until the heavens are no more, ¹  they ²  will not awake nor arise from their sleep.

¹ tc The Hebrew construction is “until not,” which is unusual if not impossible; it is found in only one other type of context. In its six other occurrences (Num 21:35; Deut 3:3; Josh 8:22; 10:33; 11:8; 2 Kgs 10:11) the context refers to the absence of survivors. Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, Syriac, and Vulgate all have “till the heavens wear out.” Most would emend the text just slightly from עַד־בִּלְתִּי (’ad-bilti, “are no more”) to עַד בְּלוֹת (’ad bÿlot, “until the wearing out of,” see Ps 102:26 [27]; Isa 51:6). Gray rejects emendation here, finding the unusual form of the MT in its favor. Orlinsky (p. 57) finds a cognate Arabic word meaning “will not awake” and translates it “so long as the heavens are not rent asunder” (H. M. Orlinsky, “The Hebrew and Greek Texts of Job 14:12,” JQR 28 [1937/38]: 57-68). He then deletes the last line of the verse as a later gloss.

² tn The verb is plural because the subject, אִישׁ (’ish), is viewed as a collective: “mankind.” The verb means “to wake up; to awake”; another root, קוּץ (quts, “to split open”) cognate to Arabic qada and Akkadian kasu, was put forward by H. M. Orlinsky (“The Hebrew and Greek Texts of Job 14:12,” JQR 28 [1937-38]: 57-68) and G. R. Driver (“Problems in the Hebrew Text of Job,” VTSup 3 [1955]: 72-93).