Job 14:9

Job 14:9 [Yet] through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant.

Ver. 9. Yet through the scent of water it will bud] Heb. From the smell of waters. A sweet metaphor, saith Merlin, sense being attributed to things senseless, as smelling to the fire, Jdg 16:9, and here to trees, which are said to turn themselves and their roots after a sort, to take in the smell of the water, and thereby refreshed to bud and bring forth boughs, like a plant. This is check to those that live under the droppings of the ordinances, and yet are like the cypress tree, which, the more it is watered, proves the less fruitful, and being once cut down, it never springs again; whence the Romans, who did not believe in a resurrection, were wont to place a cypress tree at the threshold of the house of death, as Pliny and Servius tell us. (Serv. in Virg. 1. 4; Plin. lib. 16, cap. 32.)

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

scent--exhalation, which, rather than the humidity of water, causes the tree to germinate. In the antithesis to man the tree is personified, and volition is poetically ascribed to it.

like a plant--"as if newly planted" [UMBREIT]; not as if trees and plants were a different species.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 9. Through the scent of water it will bud] A fine metaphor: the water acts upon the decaying and perishing tree, as strong and powerful odours from musk, otto of roses, ammonia, &c., act on a fainting or swooning person.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

9. like a plant] i. e. a fresh and new plant; it begins a new life again.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Yet through the scent of water it will bud,.... As soon as it smells it, or perceives it, is sensible of it, or partakes of its efficacy; denoting both how speedily, and how easily, at once as it were, it buds forth through the virtue either of rain water that descends upon it, or river water by which it is planted, or by any means conveyed unto it; particularly this is true of the willow, which delights in watery places; and, when it is in the circumstances before described, will by the benefit of water bud out again, even when its stock has been seemingly dead:

and bring forth boughs like a plant; as if it was a new plant, or just planted; so the Vulgate Latin version, as "when it was first planted"; or as a plant that sends forth many branches: the design of this simile is to show that man's case is worse than that of trees, which when cut down sprout out again, and are in the place where they were before; but man, when he is cut down by death, rises up no more in the same place; he is seen no more in it, and the place that knew him knows him no more; where he falls he lies until the general resurrection; he rises not before without a miracle, and such instances are very rare, and never either before or at the resurrection, but by the omnipotence of God; whereas a tree, in the above circumstances, sprouts out of itself, according to its nature, and in virtue of a natural power which God has put into it; not so man (y).

(y) "Mutat terra vices-----nos ubi decidimus", Horat. Carmin. l. 4. Ode 7.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Yet through the scent of water - The word here rendered “scent” (ריח rêyach) means properly the odor or fragrance which anything exhales or emits; Son 2:13; Son 7:13; Gen 27:27. The idea is very delicate and poetic. It is designed to denote a gentle and pleasant contact - not a rush of water - by which the tree is made to live. It inhales, so to speak, the vital influence from the water - as we are refreshed and revived by grateful odorifles when we are ready to faint.

It will bud - Or, rather, it will germinate, or spring up again - יפרח yapârach; see the notes at Isa 55:10.

And bring forth boughs - קציר qâtsı̂yr. This word usually means a harvest; Gen 8:22; Gen 30:14; Gen 45:6. It also means, as here, a bough, or branch; compare Psa 80:11; Job 18:16; Job 29:19.

Like a plant - Like a young plant - as fresh and vigorous as a plant that is set out.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Scent, or light touch, Daniel iii. 94. (Menochius)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Through the scent of water, i.e. by means of water. Scent or smell is figuratively ascribed to a tree.

Like a plant; like a tree newly planted.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

9. The scent of water — In Jdg_16:9 a thread of tow is represented as smelling the fire (margin); the verb corresponding to the noun of our text. Dan_3:27. Wherever the palm-tree grows, though in the midst of a desert, the traveller may be justified in digging for water. Such was the opinion of Sir Sydney Smith.

Like a plant — “As if newly planted.” — Septuagint.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Scent - By means of water. Scent or smell, is figuratively ascribed to a tree.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

and it will produce a branch Heb. קציר. This is a branch, as (Ps. 80:12), “She sent out her boughs (קצירה) to the sea.”

a sapling Heb. נטע. This is a noun. It is accented on the first syllable, and is punctuated completely with a “kamatz” because it is the end of the verse, but it is derived from נֶטַע, a sapling.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.